DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to applicant’s response filed under 37 C.F.R. §1.111 in response to a non-final office action. No claims have been amended, canceled or added. Claims 1-20 are subject to examination.
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 the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claims 1-8, and 10-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tinnakornsrisuphap et al. (US 2013/0102313 A1) (Tinnakornsrisuphap hereafter) in view of Aya et al. (US 2010/0067186 A1) (Aya hereafter).
Regarding claim 1, Tinnakornsrisuphap teaches, a computing device comprising:
a first wireless communication module (Tinnakornsrisuphap; wireless access component 122 of Fig. 1);
a second wireless communication module housed within the component housing; (Tinnakornsrisuphap; wireless access component 124 of Fig. 1) and
a switching engine coupled to the first wireless communication module and the second wireless communication module, wherein the switching engine is to switch between the first wireless communication module and the second wireless communication module (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point sends a message to the access terminal to cause an application on the access terminal to enable/disable communication via the different types of radio access technology, Par. 0016) based on Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index of the first wireless communication module and the second wireless communication module (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point may acquire one or more of: information indicative of traffic conditions associated with the different RATs supported by the access point, information indicative of traffic conditions associated with the backhaul, information indicative of the types of services to be provided to one or more access terminals, or some other type of information that is used to determine whether to switch to different RAT, Par. 0050…Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellular, Par. 0057).
Although Tinnakornsrisuphap teaches a first wireless communication module (wireless access component 122 of Fig. 1), Tinnakornsrisuphap fails to explicitly teach,
housed outside a component housing of the computing device;
However, Aya teaches,
housed outside a component housing of the computing device; (Aya; Wireless module section 22 & WLAN antenna 35 & WLAN antenna 36 of Fig. 4 & An example of each of the third antenna sections 35, 36 is an antenna for a wireless LAN (WLAN). However, the third antenna sections 35, 36 are not limited to the above example, and may be an antenna of Bluetooth (trademark), or an antenna compatible with a communication system, such as a wireless WAN, WiMAX, UWB or GPS, a mobile telephone system, such as 3G or 3.5G, or another communication system of various types, Par. 0044) [The Examiner contends it is well known in the art for the display of a laptop device to contain a wireless module.]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap to include the above cited limitations as taught by Aya in order to further minimizing and sliming an information processing apparatus (Aya; Par. 0007).
Regarding claim 2, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the computing device as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the first wireless communication module is embedded in an I/O device of the computing device. (Aya; display unit 3 of Fig. 4 & Wireless Module Section 22 of Fig. 4)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap to include the above cited limitations as taught by Aya in order to further minimizing and sliming an information processing apparatus (Aya; Par. 0007).
Regarding claim 3, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the computing device as claimed in claim 2,
wherein the I/O device is a display panel (Aya; display unit 3 of Fig. 4 & Wireless Module Section 22 of Fig. 4), and wherein the first wireless communication module is embedded at a front end of the display panel (Aya; display unit 3 of Fig. 2 & 36 of Fig. 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap to include the above cited limitations as taught by Aya in order to further minimizing and sliming an information processing apparatus (Aya; Par. 0007).
Regarding claim 4, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the computing device as claimed in claim 3,
wherein the first wireless communication module is embedded on a bezel of the display panel. (Aya; display unit 3 of Fig. 2 & 36 of Fig. 2 & Fig. 4)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap to include the above cited limitations as taught by Aya in order to further minimizing and sliming an information processing apparatus (Aya; Par. 0007).
Regarding claim 4, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the computing device as claimed in claim 3,
wherein the component housing and the first wireless communication module are embedded at a rear end of the display panel. (Aya; display unit 3 of Fig. 3 & 21 of Fig. 3 & Fig. 4)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap to include the above cited limitations as taught by Aya in order to further minimizing and sliming an information processing apparatus (Aya; Par. 0007).
Regarding claim 4, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the computing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first wireless communication module is coupled to the component housing via a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) bus, universal serial bus (USB), and Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI), or a combination thereof. (Tinnakornsrisuphap; The devices 604 and 606 may include communication devices 634 and 636, respectively, for providing point-to-point communication. For example, the communication devices may provide interfaces to a local bus (e.g., USB) over which the devices communicate (e.g., to coordinate a switch between RATs)., Par. 0109)
Regarding claim 7, Tinnakornsrisuphap teaches, a method comprising:
monitoring a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index of a wireless communication module of a computing device housed within a component housing of the computing device (wireless access component 124 of Fig. 1); (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point may acquire one or more of: information indicative of traffic conditions associated with the different RATs supported by the access point, information indicative of traffic conditions associated with the backhaul, information indicative of the types of services to be provided to one or more access terminals, or some other type of information that is used to determine whether to switch to different RAT, Par. 0050…Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellular, Par. 0057)
monitoring an MCS index of another wireless communication module electronically coupled to the component housing (Tinnakornsrisuphap; wireless access component 122 of Fig. 1; (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point may acquire one or more of: information indicative of traffic conditions associated with the different RATs supported by the access point, information indicative of traffic conditions associated with the backhaul, information indicative of the types of services to be provided to one or more access terminals, or some other type of information that is used to determine whether to switch to different RAT, Par. 0050…Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellula, Par. 0057)
comparing the MCS index of the wireless communication module and the other wireless communication module; (Tinnakornsrisuphap; Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellular, Par. 0057…the access point sends a message to the access terminal to cause an application on the access terminal to enable/disable communication via the different types of radio access technology, Par. 0016) and
switching between the wireless communication module and the other wireless communication module based on the comparison. (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point sends a message to the access terminal to cause an application on the access terminal to enable/disable communication via the different types of radio access technology, Par. 0016)
Although Tinnakornsrisuphap teaches another wireless communication module (wireless access component 122 of Fig. 1), Tinnakornsrisuphap fails to explicitly teach,
the other wireless communication module being housed outside the component housing;
However, Aya teaches,
the other wireless communication module being housed outside the component housing; (Aya; Wireless module section 22 & WLAN antenna 35 & WLAN antenna 36 of Fig. 4 & An example of each of the third antenna sections 35, 36 is an antenna for a wireless LAN (WLAN). However, the third antenna sections 35, 36 are not limited to the above example, and may be an antenna of Bluetooth (trademark), or an antenna compatible with a communication system, such as a wireless WAN, WiMAX, UWB or GPS, a mobile telephone system, such as 3G or 3.5G, or another communication system of various types, Par. 0044) [The Examiner contends it is well known in the art for the display of a laptop device to contain a wireless module.]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap to include the above cited limitations as taught by Aya in order to further minimizing and sliming an information processing apparatus (Aya; Par. 0007).
Regarding claim 8, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the method as claimed in claim 7,
wherein the switching comprises selecting one of the wireless communication module and the other wireless communication module based on a higher MCS index. (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point sends a message to the access terminal to cause an application on the access terminal to enable/disable communication via the different types of radio access technology, Par. 0016)
Regarding claim 10 & 13, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the method as claimed in claim 7,
wherein the method comprises comparing the MCS index of the wireless communication module and the other wireless communication module after bootup of the computing device. (Tinnakornsrisuphap; such an access terminal will typically turn off Wi-Fi access when the display screen of the access terminal is turned-off and instead use a cellular data mode to reduce battery consumption, Par. 0012 & Aya; Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellular, Par. 0057)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap to include the above cited limitations as taught by Aya in order to further minimizing and sliming an information processing apparatus (Aya; Par. 0007).
Regarding claim 11 & 14, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the method comprises comparing the MCS index of the wireless communication module and the other wireless communication module at predefined intervals of time. (Tinnakornsrisuphap; Par. 0051 – 0060 & Aya; Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellular, Par. 0057)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap to include the above cited limitations as taught by Aya in order to further minimizing and sliming an information processing apparatus (Aya; Par. 0007).
Regarding claim 12, Tinnakornsrisuphap teaches, a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions executable by a processing resource to:
monitor a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index of a first wireless communication module (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point will continue to acquire information after the new communication is established with the access terminal. In this way, the access point may monitor traffic congestion and/or other conditions to later determine whether the access terminal is to be redirected back to the original RAT (e.g., if congestion on the Wi-Fi channel diminishes), Par. 0079 & Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellular, Par. 0057);
monitor an MCS index of a second wireless communication module housed within the component housing; (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point will continue to acquire information after the new communication is established with the access terminal. In this way, the access point may monitor traffic congestion and/or other conditions to later determine whether the access terminal is to be redirected back to the original RAT (e.g., if congestion on the Wi-Fi channel diminishes), Par. 0079 & Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellular, Par. 0057)
compare the MCS index of the first wireless communication module and the MCS index of the second wireless communication module; (Tinnakornsrisuphap; Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellular, Par. 0057…the access point sends a message to the access terminal to cause an application on the access terminal to enable/disable communication via the different types of radio access technology, Par. 0016) and
switch between the first wireless communication module and the second wireless communication module based on the comparison. (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point sends a message to the access terminal to cause an application on the access terminal to enable/disable communication via the different types of radio access technology, Par. 0016)
Although Tinnakornsrisuphap teaches a first wireless communication module (wireless access component 122 of Fig. 1), Tinnakornsrisuphap fails to explicitly teach,
housed outside a component housing of a computing device, wherein the component housing is embedded at a rear end of a display panel of the computing device;
However, Aya teaches,
housed outside a component housing of a computing device, wherein the component housing is embedded at a rear end of a display panel of the computing device; (Aya; Wireless module section 22 & WLAN antenna 35 & WLAN antenna 36 of Fig. 4 & An example of each of the third antenna sections 35, 36 is an antenna for a wireless LAN (WLAN). However, the third antenna sections 35, 36 are not limited to the above example, and may be an antenna of Bluetooth (trademark), or an antenna compatible with a communication system, such as a wireless WAN, WiMAX, UWB or GPS, a mobile telephone system, such as 3G or 3.5G, or another communication system of various types, Par. 0044 & display unit 3 of Fig. 3 & 21 of Fig. 3 & Fig. 4) [The Examiner contends it is well known in the art for the display of a laptop device to contain a wireless module.]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap to include the above cited limitations as taught by Aya in order to further minimizing and sliming an information processing apparatus (Aya; Par. 0007).
Regarding claim 15 & 18, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the non-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 12,
further comprising instructions to select one of the first wireless communication module and the second wireless communication module based on higher MCS index. (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point sends a message to the access terminal to cause an application on the access terminal to enable/disable communication via the different types of radio access technology, Par. 0016… the access point may acquire one or more of: information indicative of traffic conditions associated with the different RATs supported by the access point, information indicative of traffic conditions associated with the backhaul, information indicative of the types of services to be provided to one or more access terminals, or some other type of information that is used to determine whether to switch to different RAT, Par. 0050…Link condition information also may be indicative of traffic congestion. For example, another indication that may be used is the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index. Low MCS indicates that the link condition to the access terminal is not good (e.g., due to interference) and the access terminal may be better off on cellular, Par. 0057)
Regarding claim 16, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the computing device as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the first wireless communication module and the second wireless communication module are configured to conform to an 802.11 wireless communication standard. (Tinnakornsrisuphap; Par. 0139)
Regarding claim 17, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the computing device as claimed in claim 1,
further comprising a monitoring engine to monitor the MCS index of the first wireless communication module and the MCS index of the second wireless communication module. (Tinnakornsrisuphap; the access point will continue to acquire information after the new communication is established with the access terminal. In this way, the access point may monitor traffic congestion and/or other conditions to later determine whether the access terminal is to be redirected back to the original RAT (e.g., if congestion on the Wi-Fi channel diminishes), Par. 0079 & MCS Index Par. 0057)
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tinnakornsrisuphap – Aya and in further view of Yang et al. (US 2014/0342770 A1) (Yang hereafter) (IDS dated 02/01/2006).
Regarding claim 9, Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya teaches, the method as claimed in claim 8, MCS index (Tinnakornsrisuphap; Par. 0057) but fails to explicitly teach,
wherein the MCS index of the wireless communication module changes based on a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the wireless communication module and the MCS index of the other wireless communication module changes based on an SNR of the other wireless communication module.
However, Yang teaches,
wherein the MCS index of the wireless communication module changes based on a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the wireless communication module and the MCS index of the other wireless communication module changes based on an SNR of the other wireless communication module. (Yang; the MCU 16 may utilize other types of signal qualities, such as the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) or other types of signal quality indicators, to select an antenna set with a higher signal quality to communicate with the service network, Par. 0023)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya to include the above cited limitations as taught by Yang in order to choose a connection of sufficient quality (Yang; Par. 0032).
Claims 19 & 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tinnakornsrisuphap – Aya and in further view of Sankaranarayan et al. (US 2018/0176843 A1) (Sankaranaravan hereafter).
Regarding claim 19 & 20, Tinnakornsrisuphap – Aya teaches the method as claimed in claim 7, but fails to explicitly teach,
wherein the MCS index of a respective wireless communication module is based on a number of spatial streams used in a wireless connection provided by the respective wireless communication module, a modulation type, a coding rate, a channel bandwidth of the respective wireless communication module, and a guard interval.
However, Sankaranaravan teaches,
wherein the MCS index of a respective wireless communication module is based on a number of spatial streams used in a wireless connection provided by the respective wireless communication module, a modulation type, a coding rate, a channel bandwidth of the respective wireless communication module, and a guard interval. (Sankaranaravan; link speed may be based on modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index values, which are the result of a combination of characteristics of a connection or link. A higher MCS index value typically indicates a higher theoretical throughput for the connection., Par. 0029)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Tinnakornsrisuphap - Aya to include the above cited limitations as taught by Sankaranaravan in order to choose a connection of sufficient quality (Sankaranaravan; Par. 0032).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Noel R Beharry whose telephone number is (571)270-5630. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9-5pm.
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NOEL R. BEHARRY
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416