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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to applicant’s amendment filed, 16 April 2026, of application filed, with the above serial number, on 01 October 2022 in which claims 1, 5, 7-8, 11, 14, 17, 19 have been amended and claim 21 has been added. Claims 1-21 are pending in the application.
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.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim 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. The new claim recites ‘the fill data comprises a pre-transmitted Predictive frame (P-frame) or Intra-coded frame (I-frame)’. It is not clear what is meant by a ‘pre-transmitted’ P-frame or I-frame as the media data may comprise, as par. 31 describes, a predictive frame or Intra frame. If the frame is already transmitted it is not clear why it is filled into the network data buffer to be transmitted.
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)(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, 4-11, 13-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Willars et al (hereinafter “Willars”, 2022/0394076).
As per Claim 1, Willars discloses an apparatus (at least paragraph 66; apparatus, 800) comprising:
an interface (at least paragraph 66; apparatus, 800, may include a processing circuitry (one or more than one processor), 802, coupled to an interface, 806) and
circuitry coupled to the interface (at least paragraph 66; processing circuitry (one or more than one processor), 802, coupled to an interface, 806), the circuitry to:
based on unavailability of media data of a first frame, provide fill data into a network data buffer to be transmitted to a receiver device, wherein the fill data comprises media data of a second subsequent frame and a quality level of the media data of the second frame is a higher quality level than a quality level of the first frame (at least paragraph 62-63; monitoring of the transmitting buffer shows that the buffer-fill level remains below a certain value or is not increasing; the bitrate may be increased by at least one of: added redundancy (for example by using forward error correction), insertion of dummy data, reduction of compression, increase of frame rate, increase of resolution and increase of colour depth; paragraphs 26, 28-29, 35, 43-44, 55-56; increasing the bitrate (and in consequence improving quality of the streamed media) when the conditions improve; rate adaptation upwards at improving conditions. Probing for a higher media rate; using a network congestion control algorithm at the sender side to only send as much data as can be transferred without buffering in the network. In this implementation there may be a buffer at the transmitting side, buffer B4, and detecting the need to adapt is done based on when this buffer starts to increase) and
based on availability of media data of the first frame, provide the media data for the first frame into the network data buffer to be transmitted to the receiver device (at least paragraph 56-57, 65, 89; network supporting ECN indicating improved conditions so that media can be sent to the receiving buffer; the improvement of traffic conditions on the second bearer may be detected by detecting that the second bearer can sustain an increased bitrate of the non-essential part of the media stream; transmit the essential part of the media stream on a first bearer and the non-essential part of the media stream on a second bearer; probing for higher media rate with the lower priority bearer, the absence of ECN/L4S marking on packets indicates that it is safe to increase the media rate also on the higher priority bearer).
As per Claim 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fill data is to permit utilization of increased available bandwidth to transmit media data to prevent a burst and backoff scenario (at least paragraph 21-23, 54, 58-64; preventing burst of packets and buffers being drained; configured at a level that balances the risk of buffer overflow when set too high (when the transmitting end attempts to transmit more data than the network can handle packets will be lost at buffer overflow) with the risk of triggering bitrate adaptation too early when the second threshold is set too low; keeping fill level of buffer between two thresholds with bitrate increase by redundancy, dummy insertion etc).
As per Claim 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fill data comprises one or more of: spatial quality data for the second frame, temporal quality data for the second frame, zero fill, and/or a portion of a predictive frame for the second frame (at least paragraph 62-63; monitoring of the transmitting buffer shows that the buffer-fill level remains below a certain value or is not increasing; the bitrate may be increased by at least one of: added redundancy (for example by using forward error correction), insertion of dummy data, reduction of compression, increase of frame rate, increase of resolution and increase of colour depth).
As per Claim 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media comprises one or more of: video, image, and/or audio (at least paragraph 47-49; video).
As per Claim 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is to transmit the higher quality level of media based on availability of increased available bandwidth for N number of transmitted packets (at least paragraph 28, 43, 56; increasing the bitrate (and in consequence improving quality of the streamed media) of packets when the conditions improve).
As per Claim 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is to provide the fill data into the network data buffer based on information conveyed in-network telemetry (INT) (at least paragraph 24, 87-89, 84; ECN and L4S).
As per Claim 9. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising: a server communicatively the circuitry, wherein the server is to provide the media for transmission (at least paragraph 42, 49; Fig. 10).
As per Claim 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiver device comprises a client device that executes a media player (at least Fig. 10; par. 44, 80-81; App client of player; AR/VR “XR” applications with remote rendering to a head-mounted display (HMD)).
As per Claim 11, Willars discloses at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, that if executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
based on unavailability of media data of a first frame, provide fill data into a network data buffer to be transmitted to a receiver device, wherein the fill data comprises media data of a second subsequent frame and a quality level of the media data of the second frame is a higher quality level than a quality level of the first frame (at least paragraph 62-63; monitoring of the transmitting buffer shows that the buffer-fill level remains below a certain value or is not increasing; the bitrate may be increased by at least one of: added redundancy (for example by using forward error correction), insertion of dummy data, reduction of compression, increase of frame rate, increase of resolution and increase of colour depth; paragraphs 26, 28-29, 35, 43-44, 55-56; increasing the bitrate (and in consequence improving quality of the streamed media) when the conditions improve; rate adaptation upwards at improving conditions. Probing for a higher media rate; using a network congestion control algorithm at the sender side to only send as much data as can be transferred without buffering in the network. In this implementation there may be a buffer at the transmitting side, buffer B4, and detecting the need to adapt is done based on when this buffer starts to increase) and
based on availability of media data of the first frame, provide the media data for the first frame into the network data buffer to be transmitted to the receiver device (at least paragraph 56-57, 65, 89; network supporting ECN indicating improved conditions so that media can be sent to the receiving buffer; the improvement of traffic conditions on the second bearer may be detected by detecting that the second bearer can sustain an increased bitrate of the non-essential part of the media stream; transmit the essential part of the media stream on a first bearer and the non-essential part of the media stream on a second bearer; probing for higher media rate with the lower priority bearer, the absence of ECN/L4S marking on packets indicates that it is safe to increase the media rate also on the higher priority bearer).
As per Claim 13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the fill data is to permit utilization of increased available bandwidth to transmit media data to prevent a burst and backoff scenario (at least paragraph 21-23, 54, 58-64; preventing burst of packets and buffers being drained; configured at a level that balances the risk of buffer overflow when set too high (when the transmitting end attempts to transmit more data than the network can handle packets will be lost at buffer overflow) with the risk of triggering bitrate adaptation too early when the second threshold is set too low; keeping fill level of buffer between two thresholds with bitrate increase by redundancy, dummy insertion etc).
As per Claim 14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the fill data comprises one or more of: spatial quality data for the second frame, temporal quality data for the second frame, zero fill, and/or portion of a predictive frame for the second frame (at least paragraph 62-63; monitoring of the transmitting buffer shows that the buffer-fill level remains below a certain value or is not increasing; the bitrate may be increased by at least one of: added redundancy (for example by using forward error correction), insertion of dummy data, reduction of compression, increase of frame rate, increase of resolution and increase of colour depth).
As per Claim 15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the media comprises one or more of: video, image, and/or audio (at least paragraph 47-49; video).
As per Claim 16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, comprising instructions stored thereon, that if executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: cause transmission of a higher quality level of media based on availability of increased available bandwidth for N number of transmitted packets (at least paragraph 28, 43, 56; increasing the bitrate (and in consequence improving quality of the streamed media) of packets when the conditions improve).
As per Claim 17, Willars discloses a method comprising:
based on unavailability of media data of a first frame, providing fill data into a network data buffer for transmission to a receiver device, wherein the fill data comprises media data of a second subsequent frame and a quality level of the media data of the second frame is a higher quality level than a quality level of the first frame (at least paragraph 62-63; monitoring of the transmitting buffer shows that the buffer-fill level remains below a certain value or is not increasing; the bitrate may be increased by at least one of: added redundancy (for example by using forward error correction), insertion of dummy data, reduction of compression, increase of frame rate, increase of resolution and increase of colour depth; paragraphs 26, 28-29, 35, 43-44, 55-56; increasing the bitrate (and in consequence improving quality of the streamed media) when the conditions improve; rate adaptation upwards at improving conditions. Probing for a higher media rate; using a network congestion control algorithm at the sender side to only send as much data as can be transferred without buffering in the network. In this implementation there may be a buffer at the transmitting side, buffer B4, and detecting the need to adapt is done based on when this buffer starts to increase) and
based on availability of media data of the first frame, providing the media data for the first frame into the network data buffer to be transmitted to the receiver device (at least paragraph 56-57, 65, 89; network supporting ECN indicating improved conditions so that media can be sent to the receiving buffer; the improvement of traffic conditions on the second bearer may be detected by detecting that the second bearer can sustain an increased bitrate of the non-essential part of the media stream; transmit the essential part of the media stream on a first bearer and the non-essential part of the media stream on a second bearer; probing for higher media rate with the lower priority bearer, the absence of ECN/L4S marking on packets indicates that it is safe to increase the media rate also on the higher priority bearer).
As per Claim 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the fill data is to permit utilization of increased available bandwidth to transmit media data to prevent a burst and backoff scenario (at least paragraph 21-23, 54, 58-64; preventing burst of packets and buffers being drained; configured at a level that balances the risk of buffer overflow when set too high (when the transmitting end attempts to transmit more data than the network can handle packets will be lost at buffer overflow) with the risk of triggering bitrate adaptation too early when the second threshold is set too low; keeping fill level of buffer between two thresholds with bitrate increase by redundancy, dummy insertion etc).
As per Claim 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the fill data comprises one or more of: spatial quality data for the second frame, temporal quality data for the second frame, zero fill, and/or portion of a predictive frame for the second frame (at least paragraph 62-63; monitoring of the transmitting buffer shows that the buffer-fill level remains below a certain value or is not increasing; the bitrate may be increased by at least one of: added redundancy (for example by using forward error correction), insertion of dummy data, reduction of compression, increase of frame rate, increase of resolution and increase of colour depth).
As per Claim 20. The method of claim 17, comprising: causing transmission of a higher quality level of media based on availability of increased available bandwidth for N number of transmitted packets (at least paragraph 28, 43, 56; increasing the bitrate (and in consequence improving quality of the streamed media) of packets when the conditions improve).
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.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Willars in view of Terzis et al (hereinafter “Terzis”, 10,075,877).
Willars fails to explicitly disclose wherein the circuitry is to adjust transmission bandwidth for media data by adjusting a size of a congestion window. However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Terzis. Terzis discloses, in an analogous art, it being well known that the transmission protocol TCP calculates and adjusts a congestion window in order to adjust data rate according to available bandwidth (at least col. 9:57-10:39). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Terzis’ congestion window with Willars as Terzis discloses TCP data transmission from a sending device incorporating congestion window calculation and adjustment in order to achieve an optimal data rate to send packets over the network, and this would be used in Willars TCP (at least paragraph 55, 22) feedback packets with acknowledgments from the receiver to monitor the round-trip delay and reduce the sending bitrate in response to any increase in that delay.
Claim(s) 3, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Willars in view of Tourrilhes et al (hereinafter “Tourrilhes”, 2023/0198910).
As per Claim 3, 12. Willars fails to explicitly disclose wherein the provide fill data is to cause burst token accumulation to not accumulate based on increased available bandwidth to transmit media data. However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Tourrilhes. Tourrilhes discloses, in an analogous art, rate limiting using a shaper and corresponding queue such that a scheduler can process packets no faster than the committed rate such that when a token bucket is full, new tokens are discarded to prevent burst of packets being transmitted (at least paragraph 60-74, 82). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Tourrilhes token discarding from full bucket with Willars as Tourrilhes teaches optimizing a burst size or bucket size for TCP congestion control so as to not exceed a packet commit rate when there are too many tokens in the bucket and would result in excess traffic, and using token bucket with active queue management in order to average out congestion, combined with Willars bitrate increase would be an obvious TCP congestion avoidance and transmission optimization with Tourrilhes’ token use.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Willars in view of Au et al (hereinafter “Au”, 2015/0026747).
Willars fails to explicitly disclose wherein: the fill data comprises a pre-transmitted Predictive frame (P-frame) or Intra-coded frame (I-frame). However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Au. Au discloses, in an analogous stream switching art, different encoded versions of media data can be switched to according to network characteristics such that a switch can be to a different higher quality version of the next frame being an I-frame, as is typical, or a P-frame (at least paragraph 26, 31-36, 40, Fig. 3). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Au’s stream switch with Willars as Willars discloses using MPEG-DASH which is an adaptive media streaming art that adapts by switching quality based on, for example, network bandwidth, Willars streaming using MPEG being keyframe and dependent frame based, and Au explicitly recites that such switching be on a next I-frame or P-frame as would be encountered in the MPEG art.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 16 April 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues, in substance, that Willars does not disclose the claim 1 amendment and in particular for fill data to be media data of a subsequent frame.
However, the specification par. 13 describes “Use of fill data can be used at least in situations where media data is not available to transmit, such as during live streaming, or there are discrete media bitrate levels. Fill data can include zero-fill data or data to assist a receiver to display or output a higher quality level media.” Thus, the media data being claimed is essentially live streaming media data. As is well known in the art live streaming media data such as the protocols discussed in par. 16 including MPEG are streams of frames, with one frame streamed followed by a subsequent frame and so on. This is common well known adaptive streaming.
Applicant remarks that the amendment is supported from par. 19, 29-36. Such subsequent frames from this support being exemplary P-frames and “provide higher quality frames through increased framerate at an increase in bitrate.” And “a P-frame can be transmitted at rate X fps and bandwidth is available so the next P-frame can be sent at rate X*2 fps as fill data.” Thus, the higher quality subsequent frame as claimed being an increase in framerate at an increase in bitrate and/or a higher fps.
Willars identically is directed to a live streaming environment, with such streaming being done with MPEG-DASH or streaming protocols (par. 21). Willars teaches when conditions improve and there is availability for higher quality media in the buffer, increasing the bitrate and framerate as well as fps (at least paragraph 28-29, 56) of the media stream’s next/subsequent frames. Willars teaches in par. 43-44 that media data not being in the buffer, a buffer underrun allows higher quality media to fill that buffer. Willars also teaches two streams, low priority and high priority which are not relevant to the claim language, if there is buffer space on the sending end, higher quality media content in the buffer by way of higher bitrate or framerate of subsequent frames is the result on one or bother priority streams. Thus, Willars clearly teaches that in the streaming media, if conditions improve, next frames of the streaming media can support higher quality frames. The higher quality media is not for a present frame or past frame that is already being displayed by the receiver but of subsequent frames as that is the entire point of streaming media.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is indicated in PTO form 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY TODD whose telephone number is (303)297-4763. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5 MST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor Nicholas Taylor can be reached on 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY TODD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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