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 with respect to claim(s) 1, 10, and 19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7-8, 10-12, 16-17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHERIAN, et al. (US 20200076552 A1, hereinafter, "CHERIAN") in view of VERMA, et al. (US 20210111855 A1, hereinafter, "VERMA"), NOH, et al. (US 20170064708 A1, hereinafter, "NOH"), and CUI, et al. (US 20150271093 A1, hereinafter, "CUI").
Regarding claim 10, CHERIAN teaches a first access point (AP) (paragraph 0143; Figure 1, AP:
105) comprising:
a memory, configured to store computer instructions;
CHERIAN writes, “The memory 1230 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 1230 may store
computer-readable, computer-executable code 1235 including instructions that, when executed, cause
the processor to perform various functions described herein” (paragraph 0241; Figure 12; memory:
1230).
and at least one processor, configured to execute the computer instructions to cause the first
AP to:
CHERIAN writes, “The processor 1240 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions
stored in a memory to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting multi-access point
scheduling in wireless local area networks)” (paragraph 0242; Figure 12: processor: 1240).
obtain a transmit opportunity (TXOP); and send an announcement message, announcing the
first AP shares the TXOP,
CHERIAN writes, “a first AP may gain channel access for a transmission opportunity (TxOP), and may
coordinate with at least a second AP to allow both the first AP and the second AP to transmit and
receive wireless communications during the TxOP” (paragraph 0004). CHERIAN continues, “Broadly,
stage 1 may include a first AP (e.g., a master AP) transmitting or otherwise providing an indication of an
request or invitation to participate in a MU transmission to one or more second AP(s) (e.g., one or more
slave or neighboring AP(s)). In some aspects, stage 1 may include the first AP transmitting, to a second
AP and during the first portion of the TxOP, a request to participate in a MU transmission during a
second portion of the TxOP” (paragraph 0324). CHERIAN indicates “an indication of an request or
invitation to participate in a MU transmission”, understood to be tantamount to an announcement
message; (paragraph 0134) disclose a master AP (e.g., the first AP) may obtain or otherwise secure
access to a shared or unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band for a TxOP.
wherein the announcement message comprises identifier information that indicates N second
AP and information that indicates a time resource for the N second AP to perform communication in
the TXOP;
CHERIAN writes, “In some aspects, the request or invitation to participate may carry or otherwise
convey a variety of information usable by the neighboring AP(s) for a variety of purposes. Examples
include, but are not limited to the duration of the TxOP, one or more timing parameters of the TxOP
(e.g., start time, an end time, etc.), the available bandwidth for the MU transmission, one or more
spatial dimension(s) for the MU transmission, a configuration for the neighboring AP(s) to use to
transmit the indication of the intent to participate (e.g., one or more resources), a scheduling for the
neighboring AP(s) to transmit the indication of intent to participate, a transmission direction for the MU
transmission (e.g., uplink and/or downlink indication), and an available interference level for the master
AP, an identifier for one or more of the neighboring AP(s), an identifier associated with a group of
neighboring AP(s) participating in the MU transmission, a transmit power of the master AP, and the like.
Other configurations details may also be included or otherwise conveyed in the request or invitation to
participate message” (paragraph 0326). CHERIAN indicates “the request or invitation to participate may
carry or otherwise convey a variety of information usable by the neighboring AP(s)” including, “the
duration of the TxOP, one or more timing parameters of the TxOP (e.g., start time, an end time, etc.)”
and “an identifier for one or more of the neighboring AP(s), an identifier associated with a group of
neighboring AP(s) participating in the MU transmission”.
wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.
CHERIAN writes, “Broadly, stage 2 may include one or more neighboring AP(s) (e.g., slave AP(s) or
second AP(s)) responding to the request or invitation to participate with an indication of an intent to
participate that additionally carries or otherwise conveys an indication of a resource request for the
corresponding neighbor AP” (paragraph 0327). CHERIAN indicates one or more neighboring AP(s),
therefore, N would be greater than or equal to 1.
CHERIAN fails to explicitly disclose information regarding, “and the N second AP comprises a
fourth AP;”, “receiving indication information from the fourth AP, wherein the indication
information indicates a remaining time resource of a time resource allocated by the first AP to the
fourth AP;”, “wherein the remaining time resource provides time resources available in the TXOP for further data transmission between the first AP and the other N second AP other than the fourth AP;” and “and determining, by the first AP based on the indication information, that data transmission of the fourth AP is completed.”
However, in analogous art, VERMA teaches and the N second AP comprises a fourth AP;
VERMA writes, “So that the TXOP owner AP1 may take advantage of any remaining unused time resources originally allocated to the selected APs AP2, AP3 or AP4, the TXOP owner AP1 needs to identify instances in which selected APs AP2, AP3 or AP4 and their respective BSSs have finished or otherwise ceased their transmissions. The TXOP owner AP1 may identify when one of the APs AP2, AP3 or AP4 and its associated BSS have finished communicating based on decoding a preamble of a data communication transmitted by the respective AP. For example, the TXOP owner AP1 may determine an end of the data communications based on decoding the length and data rate fields in the legacy portion of the preamble or based on decoding the TXOP duration field in a non-legacy signal field such as HE-SIG-A or EHT-SIG (or EHT-SIG-A)” (paragraph 0111).
receiving indication information from the fourth AP, wherein the indication information
indicates a remaining time resource of a time resource allocated by the first AP to the fourth AP;
VERMA writes, “So that the TXOP owner AP1 may take advantage of any remaining unused time resources originally allocated to the selected APs AP2, AP3 or AP4, the TXOP owner AP1 needs to identify instances in which selected APs AP2, AP3 or AP4 and their respective BSSs have finished or otherwise ceased their transmissions. The TXOP owner AP1 may identify when one of the APs AP2, AP3 or AP4 and its associated BSS have finished communicating based on decoding a preamble of a data communication transmitted by the respective AP. For example, the TXOP owner AP1 may determine an end of the data communications based on decoding the length and data rate fields in the legacy portion of the preamble or based on decoding the TXOP duration field in a non-legacy signal field such as HE-SIG-A or EHT-SIG (or EHT-SIG-A)” (paragraph 0111).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of CHERIAN to include aspects described by VERMA that "relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically, to coordinated AP (CAP) time-division-multiple-access (TDMA) techniques for sharing the time resources of a transmission opportunity (TXOP)." VERMA provides motivation for modification of the invention noting, "Particular implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. In some implementations, the described techniques can be used to reduce latency because the TXOP owner may share a TXOP with other APs, and as such, the other APs may not need to wait to win contention for a TXOP to be able to transmit and receive data according to conventional CSMA/CA or EDCA techniques. Additionally or alternatively, some implementations can achieve improvements in throughput fairness. Various implementations may achieve these and other advantages without requiring that the TXOP owner or the other APs selected to participate in the TXOP be aware of the STAs associated with other BSSs (OBSSs), without requiring a preassigned or dedicated master AP or preassigned groups of APs, and without requiring backhaul coordination between the APs participating in the TXOP." (paragraph 0032).
CHERIAN and VERMA fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “wherein the remaining time resource provides time resources available in the TXOP for further data transmission between the first AP and the other N second AP other than the fourth AP;” and “and determining, by the first AP based on the indication information, that data transmission of the fourth AP is completed.”
However, in analogous art, NOH teaches wherein the remaining time resource provides time
resources available in the TXOP for further data transmission between the first AP and the other N
second AP other than the fourth AP;
NOH writes, “During the period of time of the cascaded operation 1464, AP 1202 may happen to find
out that some resource is not fitted to STAs 1404 (e.g., STA2/3/4) to be scheduled in UL MU
transmission. AP 1202 may open this unfitted resource to any STAs 1404 including a STA that is currently
unassociated with the intended AP. AP 1202 may be aware of the fact that an additional TE-R could
assign any STA (e.g., STA6) with STA2/3/4 in the remaining time of TXOP 1451” (paragraph 0168). NOH
adds, “In one or more aspects, a STA may act as an AP” (paragraph 0038). NOH indicates that the AP can
assign any STA in the remaining time of TXOP. NOH notes that a STA may act as an AP.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of CHERIAN and VERMA to include aspects described by NOH that "relates in general to wireless communication systems and methods, and more particularly to, for example, without limitation, network allocation vector operations." NOH provides motivation for modification of the invention noting, "...as the IEEE 802.11 standard evolves to include multiple users' simultaneous transmission/reception scheduled within a basic service set (BSS) such as UL/DL MU transmission in cascaded manner, a modified or newly defined mechanism as described. herein can improve efficiency of MU transmissions" (paragraph 0026).
CHERIAN, VERMA, and NOH fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “and determining, by the first AP based on the indication information, that data transmission of the fourth AP is completed.”
However, in analogous art, CUI teaches and determining, by the first AP based on the
indication information, that data transmission of the fourth AP is completed.
CUI writes, “Preferably, the user equipment data transmission control information transmitted from the
UE to the access network device includes at least one of the following: data indication information,
which is used for indicating a status where the data is transmitted via the RRC signalling currently; data
transmission completion indication information, which is used for indicating that data transmission has
been completed” (paragraph 0008).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of CHERIAN, VERMA, and NOH to include aspects described by CUI that "relates to the communication field, and in particular relates to a method for transmitting and receiving data, a use equipment (UE), an access network device, a core network device and a data transceiving system." CUI provides motivation for modification of the invention noting, "The present invention solves the problem of low system efficiency and unable to transmit all the data with respect to many services of the UE due to the smaller data volume transmission capability, and can transmit larger data, thus further reducing the signalling overhead generated by data transmission, and improving system efficiency" (paragraph 0039).
Regarding claim 11, CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI teach the first AP according to claim 10,
Additionally, CHERIAN teaches wherein the identifier information that indicates the N second
AP comprises: an identifier of each second AP, or a group identifier of a group to which a second AP
belongs.
CHERIAN writes, “In some aspects, the request or invitation to participate may carry or otherwise
convey a variety of information usable by the neighboring AP(s) for a variety of purposes. Examples
include, but are not limited to the duration of the TxOP, one or more timing parameters of the TxOP
(e.g., start time, an end time, etc.), the available bandwidth for the MU transmission, one or more
spatial dimension(s) for the MU transmission, a configuration for the neighboring AP(s) to use to
transmit the indication of the intent to participate (e.g., one or more resources), a scheduling for the
neighboring AP(s) to transmit the indication of intent to participate, a transmission direction for the MU
transmission (e.g., uplink and/or downlink indication), and an available interference level for the master
AP, an identifier for one or more of the neighboring AP(s), an identifier associated with a group of
neighboring AP(s) participating in the MU transmission, a transmit power of the master AP, and the like.
Other configurations details may also be included or otherwise conveyed in the request or invitation to
participate message” (paragraph 0326). CHERIAN indicates “an identifier for one or more of the
neighboring AP(s), an identifier associated with a group of neighboring AP(s) participating in the MU
transmission”.
Regarding claim 12, CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI teach the first AP according to claim 10,
Additionally, CHERIAN teaches wherein the information that indicates the time resource for
the N second AP to perform the communication in the TXOP comprises one or more of the following:
duration of a time resource for each second AP to perform communication in the TXOP, a start time of
the time resource for each second AP to perform communication in the TXOP, and an end time of the
time resource for each second AP to perform communication in the TXOP.
CHERIAN writes, “In some aspects, the request or invitation to participate may carry or otherwise
convey a variety of information usable by the neighboring AP(s) for a variety of purposes. Examples
include, but are not limited to the duration of the TxOP, one or more timing parameters of the TxOP
(e.g., start time, an end time, etc.), the available bandwidth for the MU transmission, one or more
spatial dimension(s) for the MU transmission, a configuration for the neighboring AP(s) to use to
transmit the indication of the intent to participate (e.g., one or more resources), a scheduling for the
neighboring AP(s) to transmit the indication of intent to participate, a transmission direction for the MU
transmission (e.g., uplink and/or downlink indication), and an available interference level for the master
AP, an identifier for one or more of the neighboring AP(s), an identifier associated with a group of
neighboring AP(s) participating in the MU transmission, a transmit power of the master AP, and the like.
Other configurations details may also be included or otherwise conveyed in the request or invitation to
participate message” (paragraph 0326). CHERIAN indicates “the request or invitation to participate may
carry or otherwise convey a variety of information usable by the neighboring AP(s)” including, “the
duration of the TxOP, one or more timing parameters of the TxOP (e.g., start time, an end time, etc.)”.
CHERIAN adds, “Other configurations details may also be included or otherwise conveyed in the request
or invitation to participate message.”
Regarding claim 16, CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI teach the first AP according to claim 10,
Additionally, CHERIAN teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to
execute the computer instructions to cause the first AP to: receive a request message from the second
AP before sending the announcement message, wherein the request message requests to share the
TXOP with the first AP.
CHERIAN writes, “An apparatus for wireless communication at a second AP is described. The apparatus
may include a first interface, a second interface, and a wireless modem, where the wireless modem is
configured to output via the second interface for transmission to a first AP and during a first portion of a
TxOP, a request to participate in a MU transmission during a second portion of the TxOP, output, via the
second interface for transmission to the first AP and during the first portion of the TxOP, an indication of
intent to participate in the MU transmission during the second portion of the TxOP, the indication of
intent including a resource request of the second AP for participation in the MU transmission, obtain, via
the first interface, during an initial period of the second portion of the TxOP, a trigger signal from the
first AP indicating a set of one or more resources for the second AP during the MU transmission, and
participate, in conjunction with the first AP and during the second portion of the TxOP, in the MU
transmission” (paragraph 0067). CHERIAN indicates the second AP transmits to the first AP “a request to
participate in a MU transmission” during the first portion of the TxOP. Followed by “a trigger signal from
the first AP indicating a set of one or more resources for the second AP during the MU transmission, and
participate, in conjunction with the first AP and during the second portion of the TxOP, in the MU
transmission.”
Regarding claim 17, CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI teach the first AP according to claim 16,
Additionally, CHERIAN teaches wherein the request message comprises one or more of the
following: a coordination type of the second AP is coordinated time division multiplexing, a
transmission resource needed by the second AP, a service volume transmitted by the second AP, and
a scheduling policy used by the second AP.
CHERIAN writes, “In some aspects, the request or invitation to participate may carry or otherwise
convey a variety of information usable by the neighboring AP(s) for a variety of purposes. Examples
include, but are not limited to the duration of the TxOP, one or more timing parameters of the TxOP
(e.g., start time, an end time, etc.), the available bandwidth for the MU transmission, one or more
spatial dimension(s) for the MU transmission, a configuration for the neighboring AP(s) to use to
transmit the indication of the intent to participate (e.g., one or more resources), a scheduling for the
neighboring AP(s) to transmit the indication of intent to participate, a transmission direction for the MU
transmission (e.g., uplink and/or downlink indication), and an available interference level for the master
AP, an identifier for one or more of the neighboring AP(s), an identifier associated with a group of
neighboring AP(s) participating in the MU transmission, a transmit power of the master AP, and the like.
Other configurations details may also be included or otherwise conveyed in the request or invitation to
participate message” (paragraph 0326). CHERIAN indicates “the request or invitation to participate may
carry or otherwise convey a variety of information usable by the neighboring AP(s)” including, “a
configuration for the neighboring AP(s) to use to transmit the indication of the intent to participate (e.g.,
one or more resources)”. CHERIAN adds, “Other configurations details may also be included or
otherwise conveyed in the request or invitation to participate message.”
Claims 1-3 and 7-8 are method claims corresponding to the apparatus claims 10-12 and 16-17 that have already been rejected above. The applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of
claims 10-12 and 16-17. Claims 1-3 and 7-8 are rejected under the same rational as claims 10-12 and 16-17.
Claims 19-20 are apparatus claims corresponding to the apparatus claims 10-11 that have
already been rejected above. The applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claims 10-11.
Claims 19-20 are rejected under the same rational as claims 10-11.
Claim(s) 4 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of EATON, et al. (US 20120246294 A1, hereinafter, "EATON").
Regarding claim 13, CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI teach the first AP according to claim 10,
CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “wherein the N
second AP comprise a third AP, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the
computer instructions to cause the first AP to: send a first polling message to the third AP, wherein
the first polling message indicates the third AP to start to use, at a first preset time, a channel
resource allocated by the first AP to the third AP.”
However, in analogous art, EATON teaches wherein the N second AP comprise a third AP,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer instructions to cause
the first AP to: send a first polling message to the third AP, wherein the first polling message indicates
the third AP to start to use, at a first preset time, a channel resource allocated by the first AP to the
third AP.
EATON writes, “AP 114/device 110 is a microprocessor controlled device (not shown). Software
applications operating on AP 114/device 110 control its operations and network connections... ”
(paragraph 0056). EATON continues, “FIG. 1E is a schematic diagram of a portion of the wireless
communication network of FIG. 1B having a third access point communicating the networks shown
therein according to an embodiment;” (paragraph 0009; figure 1E) EATON adds, “Network messaging
protocols can define how status information on AP 114 and devices 110 are polled, gathered and
analyzed. Messages can include status information such as identification of the current members in
network 112, timing of any handovers from AP 114 to other APs and/or hotspots, and requirements for
new APs. In network 112, AP 114 manages the connections and messaging for its devices” (paragraph
0094). EATON indicates that the AP is a microprocessor controlled device and that software applications
operating on the AP control its operations and network connections. EATON states that displayed in
figure 1E is a third access point communicating in the network. EATON specifies that “network
messaging protocols can define how status information on AP 114 and devices 110 are polled, gathered
and analyzed”, and that the status information includes, “identification of the current members in
network 112, timing of any handovers from AP 114 to other APs and/or hotspots, and requirements for
new APs.” Therefore, it can be concluded that status information can provide to other APs when to
“start to use, at a first preset time, a channel resource allocated by the first AP” and network messaging
protocols can determine when messages are sent (e.g., first polling message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI to include aspects described by EATION for "selecting a client device for a server device managing communications for a wireless network." EATON provides motivation for modification of the invention noting, "Analysis of performance/communication characteristics of potential devices 110 as clients for AP 114/network 112, which facilitates optimal selection of clients having regard to overall average data throughput and average energy consumption of the clients, as a whole, for network 112" (paragraph 0085). EATON continues, "Ability to identify a preferred candidate for the new AP 114 through an analysis of signal quality and overall average data throughputs in multiple wireless protocols and battery consumption factors" (paragraph 0113).
Claim 4 is a method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 13 that has already been
rejected above. The applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 13. Claim 4 is rejected
under the same rational as claim 13.
Claim(s) 6 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of ZHENG, et al. (US 20150244619 A1, hereinafter, "ZHENG").
Regarding claim 15, CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI teach the first AP according to claim 10,
CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “wherein the
indication information is further carried in any one of the following: a more data subfield in a control
field of a last data frame transmitted by the fourth AP; an end of service period (EOSP) subfield in a
quality of service control field of the last data frame transmitted by the fourth AP; or a duration field
of the last data frame transmitted by the fourth AP.”
However, in analogous art, ZHENG teaches wherein the indication information is further
carried in any one of the following: a more data subfield in a control field of a last data frame
transmitted by the fourth AP; an end of service period (EOSP) subfield in a quality of service control
field of the last data frame transmitted by the fourth AP; or a duration field of the last data frame
transmitted by the fourth AP.
ZHENG writes, “When STA1 and STA2 indicate there are no more data for transmission by
setting More Data field to 0. When STA1 uses ACK (in which ACK Indication subfield is set to 2 and
Aggregation subfield is set to 0) as the response for the last data frame from STA2, it indicates there will
be CF-End frame immediately follows ACK and may set Duration field of ACK to 0 or a value for NAV
setting to protect the following frame i.e. CF-End. Thus, when STA2 receives the ACK from STA1, it
responds with CF-End to terminate TXOP. If STA1 is an AP STA, it can simply terminate the TXOP using
ACK, in which Duration is set 0 and ACK Indication subfield is set to 0, indicating there will no response”
(paragraph 0567). ZHENG indicates that when there is no more data for transmission that STA1 and
STA2 will set the More Data field to 0. ZHENG states, “If STA1 is an AP STA, it can simply terminate the
TXOP using ACK, in which Duration is set 0 and ACK Indication subfield is set to 0…” ZHENG notes STA1
may use ACK as the response for the last data frame from STA2. It can be concluded by the statements
above that the STAs may be access points. Even though STA1 and STA2 are used as examples, the
number of STAs are not limited to 1 and 2, and may include 4 or more STAs.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI to include aspects described by ZHENG as a communication method that may "include: at least one of sending a data unit or receiving a data unit; wherein the data unit is a null-data packet (NDP) and includes at least a physical layer (PHY) header; wherein the PHY header includes a plurality of fields; and wherein the plurality of fields include a sub-type field with at least 3 bits indicating a NDP sub-type of the data unit." ZHENG provides motivation for modification of the invention noting, "In this communication, data may be lost, so there may be a need for an acknowledgement of received data" (paragraph 0003). ZHENG adds, "An advantage of this embodiment is that the responding STA will send out the FLOW SUSPEND frame SIFS after it transmits NDP ACK. In this case, the responding STA is not required to contend the channel access DIFS and if necessary, some back-off time after transmitting the response frame, which reduces the waiting time of the STA which elicited the response frame" (paragraph 0475).
Claim 6 is a method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 15 that has already been
rejected above. The applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 15. Claim 6 is rejected
under the same rational as claim 15.
Claim(s) 9 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of XIONG et al. (US 20170155482 A1, hereinafter, "XIONG").
Regarding claim 18, CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI teach the first AP according to claim 10,
CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI fail to explicitly disclose information regarding, “wherein the at
least one processor is further configured to execute the computer instructions to cause the first AP to:
send information about an AP coordination set, wherein the information about the AP coordination
set indicates coordinated transmission between the first AP and an AP in the AP coordination set.”
However, in analogous art, XIONG teaches wherein the at least one processor is further
configured to execute the computer instructions to cause the first AP to: send information about an
AP coordination set, wherein the information about the AP coordination set indicates coordinated
transmission between the first AP and an AP in the AP coordination set.
XIONG writes, “FIG. 1(b) shows a schematic diagram of an architecture of a distributed coordinated
multipoint system according to one aspect of the present invention. eNB1 to eNB7 are adjacent to each
other to form a coordination set. Each node may act as its own central node and takes one or more
adjacent nodes as coordination nodes. In this way, each node obtains benefit metric information from
one or more adjacent nodes corresponding to itself, and determines resource allocation corresponding
to itself based on the benefit metric information” (paragraph 0031; Figure 1(b)). XIONG adds, “Herein,
the central node or coordination nodes include, but not limited to, a base station or other transmission
points. Here, the term ‘Base Station (BS)’ may be regarded as synonymous to and/or refer to the
following terms: base transceiver station(BTS), NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), various micro cells, access
points, etc, and may be described as a device for providing radio baseband functions for data and/or
voice connectivity between the network and one or more users” (paragraph 0032). XIONG indicates,
“eNB1 to eNB7 are adjacent to each other to form a coordination set. Each node may act as its own
central node and takes one or more adjacent nodes as coordination nodes.” XIONG specifies, “each
node obtains benefit metric information from one or more adjacent nodes corresponding to itself, and
determines resource allocation corresponding to itself based on the benefit metric information.”
Determining the resource allocation is understood to be associated with the transmission between the
coordinated set. XIONG states that “the central node or coordination nodes include, but not limited to, a
base station or other transmission points”, and “the term ‘Base Station (BS)’ may be regarded as
synonymous to and/or refer to the following terms: base transceiver station(BTS), NodeB, evolved
NodeB (eNB), various micro cells, access points, etc.”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the invention and method of CHERIAN, VERMA, NOH, and CUI to include aspects described by XIONG for "providing methods, devices and a System for resource allocation between multiple cells based on coordinated multipoint." XIONG provides motivation for modification of the invention stating, "the present invention may also achieve resource allocation between multiple cells in a centralized coordinated multipoint architecture or a distributed coordinated multipoint architecture through enhancing an existing resource status reporting mechanism to support coordinated multipoint communication in a non-ideal backhaul status, thereby mitigating inter-cell interference and meanwhile guaranteeing benefits of multiple cells" (paragraph 0018).
Claim 9 is a method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 18 that has already been
rejected above. The applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claim 18. Claim 9 is rejected
under the same rational as claim 18.
Claims 5 and 14 have been canceled by the applicant, respectfully.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER A REYES whose telephone number is (703)756-4558. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 - 5:00 EDT.
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/Christopher A. Reyes/Examiner, Art Unit 2475 3/24/2026
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475