DETAILED ACTION
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 claims 1-3, 6-10, 13-17, and 20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection set forth.
The claim objections regarding claims 8 and 15 have been withdrawn in view of the claim amendment.
The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) first paragraph regarding claims 3, 10, and 17 have been withdrawn in view of the claim amendment.
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.
Claims 1-2, 7-9, and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. US (2011/0269451) in view of Yamamoto et al. US (2015/0351090), further in view of Almquist et al. US (2021/0298009), further in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141), further in view of Kim et al. US (2016/0380731), and further in view of Kanamarlapudi et al. US (2022/0030461).
Regarding Claim 1, Liu discloses a method comprising:
an access point (see Fig. 7 i.e., Femto BS2 & Para’s [0215] i.e., Femto BS2)
and a first radio unit (see Fig. 7 i.e., Macro base station (BS) 1 & Para [0215] i.e., Macro BS1)
and scheduling, the access point to transmit during a first time slot (see Fig. 11 i.e., time slot Tc) including sub-channels of a channel (see Fig. 11 i.e., resource blocks for sending the signals from the each of the base stations may be sub-channels & Para’s [0214-0215] i.e., the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 send auxiliary detection signaling on appropriate resource blocks (i.e., sub-channels) of the carrier frequency Fc (i.e., includes a channel)) and scheduling the first radio unit to transmit during the first time slot (see Fig. 11 & Para’s [0126] i.e., the time-frequency resource block when an auxiliary detection signaling is sent may be located within a downlink sub-frame (i.e., downlink sub-frame includes a channel), [0141], & [0214] i.e., the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 send auxiliary detection signaling on appropriate resource blocks of the carrier frequency Fc (i.e., includes a “channel”) & [0215] i.e., an upper-layer network element notifies, through corresponding signaling, the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 of location information of the resource blocks (i.e., “scheduling”) for sending auxiliary detection signaling at the carrier frequency Fc. As shown in Fig. 11, S1c, S2c, S3c, and S4c, which respectively represent the auxiliary detection signaling sent by the Macro BS1, the Femto BS2, the Femto BS3, and the Femto BS4 at the carrier frequency Fc, are four groups of pilot sequences that are mutually orthogonal and occupy the same time slot Tc)
While Liu does discloses the femto base station (i.e., “access point”) (see Para [0215] i.e., Femto BS2), Liu does not disclose the femto base station is a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Yamamoto et al. US (2015/0351090).
Yamamoto discloses a femto base station may be a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (see Fig. 3 i.e., WiFi communication unit of Femto Base Station 4 & Para’s [0040-0043] i.e., WiFi (Wireless Fidelity)…In the following explanation, the example is used where the system other than a mobile communication wireless access system, which is used by the femto base station 4 for the wireless access channel with the mobile station 5, is the WiFi, [0082] & [0084] i.e., WiFi communication unit 54 for use for the wireless access channel between the femto base station 4 and the mobile station 5)
(Yamamoto suggests the femto base station 4 forms a relatively small sized wireless communication area called a “femto cell” where it performs wireless communication with a mobile station 5 for providing network coverage to the mobile station in the small sized area and for supporting wireless communication with the mobile station according to the WiFi communication standard when needed, (see Para’s [0040-0041], [0082], & [0084])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the femto base station disclosed in the teachings of Liu to be a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point such as the femto base station disclosed in the teachings of Yamamoto who discloses a femto base station including a WiFi communication unit for communicating with a mobile station using a WiFi communication channel, because the motivation lies in Yamamoto that the femto base station forms a relatively small sized wireless communication area called a “femto cell” where it performs wireless communication with a mobile station for providing network coverage to the mobile station in the small sized area and for supporting wireless communication with the mobile station according to the WiFi communication standard when needed.
While the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto discloses a first radio unit such as the macro base station (BS1), (Liu, see Para [0215]), the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto does not disclose a first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Almquist et al. US (2021/0298009).
Almquist discloses a macro eNB may be a first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit (see Fig. 8 i.e., macro base station 802-1 & Para’s [0094] i.e., the cellular communications network 800 is a 5G NR network in which at least some of the cells are NR-U cells or the cellular communication network 800 is a NR-U network. In this example, the cellular communications network 800 includes base stations 802-1 (i.e., “first NR-U radio unit”) and 802-2 which in 5G NR and NR-U are referred to as NR base stations (gNBs) (i.e., “first NR-U radio unit”), controlling corresponding macro cells 804-1 and 804-2 & [0102])
(Almquist suggests the macro eNB may (i.e., first (NR-U) radio unit) is used for supporting new radio (NR) in the unlicensed bands and for satisfying the requirements for unlicensed band operation such as power requirements over the occupied channel bandwidth by designing an appropriate PUCCH (see Para’s [0022-0024]) with appropriate symbol repetition mapping which results in increased performance and reduced interference and power consumption for the UE, (see Para’s [0022-0024] & [0070-0075])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the Macro base station disclosed in the teachings of Liu in view of Yamamoto to be a first NR-U radio unit such as the macro eNB disclosed in the teachings of Almquist who discloses a macro eNB may be a first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit controlling corresponding macro cells of a NR-U network, because the motivation lies in Almquist that the NR-U radio unit such as the macro eNB is used for supporting new radio (NR) in the unlicensed bands and for satisfying the requirements for unlicensed band operation such as power requirements over the occupied channel bandwidth by designing an appropriate PUCCH with appropriate symbol repetition mapping which results in increased performance and reduced interference and power consumption for the UE.
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist does not disclose the claim features of receiving a first buffer status report from the wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point, the first buffer status report indicating a first amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the Wi-Fi access point; receiving a second buffer status report from the first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit, the second buffer status report indicating a second amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the NR-U, wherein the second amount is less than the first amount, scheduling, based at least in part on the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report, both the WiFi access point and first NR-U radio unit transmissions, and scheduling the first NR-U to refrain from transmitting. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141).
Nagasaka discloses receiving a first buffer status report from a WiFi access point (see Fig. 11 i.e., WLAN communication unit 220, Fig. 19 & Para’s [0185], [0212] i.e., buffer for the LTE communication and a buffer for the WLAN communication are separately disposed…data transmission ratio between LTE and the WLAN is changed according to buffer size/state acquired from each buffer, [0279] i.e., the controller 230 of the SeNB 200s notifies the MeNB 200M of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., buffer accumulation amount of WLAN transmission data may be the “first buffer status report”) individually, & [0281] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., “first buffer status report”) individually to the MeNB 200M).
the first buffer status report indicating a first amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the Wi-Fi access point (see Para’s [0212] & [0280-0285] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data to the MeNB 200M)
receiving a second buffer status report from a first radio unit (i.e., base station) (see Fig. Fig. 11 i.e., LTE communication unit 210, Fig. 19 & Para’s [0184], [0212] i.e., buffer for the LTE communication and a buffer for the WLAN communication are separately disposed…data transmission ratio between LTE and the WLAN is changed according to buffer size/state acquired from each buffer, [0279] i.e., the controller 230 of the SeNB 200s notifies the MeNB 200M of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., buffer accumulation amount of LTE transmission data may be the “second buffer status report”) individually, & [0281] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data (i.e., “second buffer status report”) and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data individually to the MeNB 200M).
the second buffer status report indicating a second amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the first base station radio unit (see Para’s [0212] & [0280-0285] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data to the MeNB 200M)
scheduling (see Fig. 19 i.e., Step S652), based at least in part on the first amount of traffic and the second amount of traffic (see Para’s [0280-0282]), the downlink transmissions of both the WiFi access point and first radio unit (i.e., base station), (see Fig. 19 & Para’s [0279-0285] i.e., In step S652, the MeNB 200M allocates (i.e., “scheduling”) the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data in the SeNB 200S on the basis of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data).
and scheduling the first NR-U (i.e., first radio base station unit) to refrain from transmitting (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0030] i.e., the controller 112 instructs the NR-U radio unit to refrain from transmitting if the buffer status report of the NR-U radio unit indicates little or no traffic awaiting transmission. Nagasaka discloses a possibility that the buffer status report of the first base station radio unit may have little or no traffic in which the Wi-Fi AP is scheduled for transmission and the first base station radio may refrain from transmitting based on a determined data transmission ratio between LTE and WLAN according to their buffer status reports, (Nagasaka, see Para’s [0212] i.e., the eNB 200 may change the data transmission ratio between the LTE and the WLAN in accordance with a size of each buffer, [0213] i.e., a WLAN transmission ratio is increased and the LTE transmission ratio is decreased (i.e., LTE may refrain from transmitting based on having little or no traffic as a possibility) & [0280-0285] i.e., the MeNB 200M allocates the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data on the basis of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data…the MeNB 200M may notify the SenB 200S of transmission ratio information indicating a ratio of the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data…In steps S655 and S656, the SeNB 200S transmits the downlink data to the UE 100 through the LTE communication and the WLAN communication on the basis of the control information (the transmission ratio information) transmitted from the MeNB 200M (i.e., LTE data transmission may be refrained based on the determined transmission ratio))
(Nagasaka suggests the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit (i.e., base station) transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio (see Para [0220]) and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes, (see Para’s [0212-0213] & [0280-0285])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the data transmissions of the WiFi access point and the first NR-U radio unit during the time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist to be scheduled by receiving buffer status reports from the WiFi AP and the first NR-U radio unit, and for scheduling the first NR-U to refrain from transmitting during the first time slot based on the teachings of Nagasaka who discloses scheduling downlink data transmissions of both a WiFi access point and first radio unit (i.e., base station) based on respective buffer status reports received from the WiFi access point and the first radio unit in which a determined data transmission ratio based on the buffer status reports may include the first base station radio unit refraining from transmitting data while the WiFi access points is scheduled to transmit data, because the motivation lies in Nagasaka that the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes.
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka does not disclose the claim feature of the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Kim et al. US (2016/0380731).
Kim discloses the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0004-0008], [0038] i.e., PDU is transmitted on each of the plurality of subchannels, [0065-0070] i.e., an access point may transmit a protocol data unit (PDU) having the structure shown in Fig. 4. The protocol data unit may span a channel having a specified bandwidth e.g., a bandwidth of 80 MHz. The channel may include four subchannels. Each subchannel may be 20MHz in width. The protocol data unit may include a preamble as well as a traffic (i.e., user data) section, [0071-0072] i.e., Each of the sections may span the channel bandwidth and a corresponding interval in time (i.e., may be a “time slot”), [0075-0076], [0118], [0142] i.e., The wireless PDU may include a first signaling section, a second signaling section and a traffic section e.g., as shown in Fig. 11B…each section may include one or more OFDM symbols. Each OFDM symbol may span the channel and occupy a corresponding OFDM symbol interval in time (i.e., the OFDM symbols are part of a “time slot”), [0144] i.e., access points scheduling algorithm, [0147] i.e., scheduling algorithm of the access point, [0156], & [0166])
(Kim suggests scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using all sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users, (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0005], [0073-0076], [0118], [0147], & [0156])
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the Wi-Fi access point which transmits during the time slot while the first NR-U refrains from transmitting during the first time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka to be scheduled to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel based on the teachings of Kim who discloses a WiFi access point is scheduled to transmit during a time slot using all sub-channels of a channel, because the motivation lies in Kim for scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using all sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users.
While Nagasaka discloses scheduling the Wifi access point to transmit based on the first amount of WLAN traffic indicated in the first buffer status report and scheduling the NR-U to refrain from transmitting based on the second amount of traffic in the second buffer status report having no traffic in the buffer as a possibility (Nagasaka, see Para’s [0212] i.e., the eNB 200 may change the data transmission ratio between the LTE and the WLAN in accordance with a size of each buffer, [0213] i.e., a WLAN transmission ratio is increased and the LTE transmission ratio is decreased (i.e., LTE may refrain from transmitting based on having little or no traffic as a possibility) & [0280-0285]), the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim does not disclose the claim features of such scheduling of the WIFI and NR-U traffic being based on the first amount of traffic being equal to or greater than a threshold amount of traffic and the second amount of traffic being less than the threshold amount of traffic. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Kanamarlapudi et al. US (2022/0030461).
Kanamarlapudi discloses a transmission buffer (see Fig. 4 i.e., buffer 412) including a configured threshold (see Fig. 4 i.e., low threshold 420b) in which when an amount of traffic being equal to or greater than the threshold 420b may be scheduled for transmission and when an amount of traffic being less than the threshold 420b (i.e., such as for example “no traffic” or zero traffic which is less than the threshold 420b) is not scheduled for transmission (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0054] i.e., packets from uplink buffer 412 are sent during scheduled TTIs (i.e., when amount of traffic is greater than low threshold 420b), [0056] i.e., uplink buffer 412 may be configured to queue data to be transmitted over the wireless network, [0061-0063] i.e., data queued in the uplink buffer 412 is sent based on a data size of data queued in memory which may be referred to as uplink watermark 470 (WM) expressed in a byte size (e.g., bytes, kB, and/or MB) that indicates the data size currently queued in the uplink buffer 412 (i.e., when amount of traffic is equal to or greater than low threshold 420b, data is scheduled for transmission from the buffer 412), [0067-0071], [0073-0074] i.e., the low threshold 420b may be configured to be a data size).
(Kanamarlapudi suggests the threshold 420a, 420b, and 420c are configured in the buffer for determining whether additional data should or should not be queued in the buffer for not exceeding the buffer’s capacity based on the amount or size of buffered data compared to the thresholds, (see Para’s [0067-0068] & [0070-0071])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the amount of WLAN traffic in the WiFi buffer and the scheduling of the NR-U to refrain from transmitting based on the second amount of traffic in the NR-U buffer having no traffic as a possibility as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim for each of the WiFi buffer and NR-U buffer to be configured with the threshold 420b of the transmission buffer as disclosed in Kanamarlapudi who discloses when an amount of traffic being equal to or greater than the threshold 420b of the buffer may be scheduled for transmission and when an amount of traffic being less than the threshold 420b (i.e., “no traffic” or zero traffic) is not scheduled for transmission, which results in scheduling, the WiFi traffic based on the first amount of traffic being equal to or greater than the configured threshold amount of traffic and refraining the NR-U traffic based on the second amount of traffic being less than the configured threshold amount of traffic, because the motivation lies in Kanamarlapudi that the threshold 420a, 420b, and 420c are configured in the buffer for determining whether additional data should or should not be queued in the buffer for not exceeding the buffer’s capacity based on the amount or size of buffered data compared to the thresholds.
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist, discloses the method of Claim 1, but does not disclose the claim features of receiving a third buffer status report from the first NR-U radio unit; determining, based at least in part on the third buffer status report, that the first NR-U radio unit is refraining from transmitting during a second time slot; and scheduling the WiFi access point to transmit during the second time slot in response to determining that the first NR-U radio unit is refraining from transmitting during the second time slot. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141).
Nagasaka discloses receiving a third buffer status report from the first NR-U radio unit, (see Fig. 19 i.e., step S657 & Para [0286] i.e., the SeNB 200s transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data individually to the MeNB 200M. A subsequent operation is similar to steps S652 to S656)
determining, based at least in part on the third buffer status report (see Para [0286] i.e., buffer notification for LTE buffer accumulation amount in step S657), that the first NR-U radio unit is refraining from transmitting during a second time slot, (see Para [0286] i.e., subsequent operation of steps S652 to S655 is performed & Para’s [0115-0116], [0212] i.e., change the data transmission ratio between LTE and the WLAN in accordance with a size of each buffer (i.e., it may be possible for the size of LTE buffer to have no data for transmission and therefore refrain LTE transmission in the determined data transmission ratio) & [0213] i.e., change the data transmission ratio so that the state of the WLAN communication gets better and the WLAN transmission ratio is increased, and the LTE transmission ratio is decreased (i.e., decreasing the entire amount of the first radio unit transmission (i.e., “refraining”) may also be a possible data transmission ratio between the WLAN access point and the first radio unit communications) & [0284] i.e., transmission ratio information determined).
and scheduling the WiFi access point to transmit during a second time slot in response to determining that the first NR-U radio unit is refraining from transmitting during the second time slot, (see Fig. 19 .e., Step S652 will schedule WiFi access point transmission in a subsequent time or a second “time slot” based on the received third buffer status report in step S657 & Para’s [0115-0116] i.e., slots for downlink data transmission, [0212-0213] & [0280-0286]).
(Nagasaka suggests the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit (i.e., base station) transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio (see Para [0220]) and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/WiFi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes, (see Para’s [0212-0213] & [0280-0285])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using the first sub-channel and the second sub-channel as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist to be scheduled in the second time slot for WiFi AP transmission which is in response to determining that the first NR-U radio unit is refraining from transmitting during the second time slot based on receiving a third buffer status report from the first NR-U radio unit as disclosed in the teachings of Nagasaka, because the motivation lies in Nagasaka that the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit (i.e., base station) transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/WiFi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes.
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka does not disclose the claim feature of scheduling the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using a majority of the sub-channels of the channel. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Kim et al. US (2016/0380731).
Kim discloses scheduling the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using a majority of the sub-channels of the channel (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0005] i.e., Each field of the traffic channel may include user traffic data for the corresponding group of one or more user devices. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art for scheduling the user traffic data for the group of one or more devices using a majority of the subchannels i.e., subchannels 1-3 (see Fig. 4) as an obvious design choice since Kim suggests that each field of the traffic channel may allocate user traffic data for one or more user devices of the group, see Para’s [0005] & [0075] i.e., Each traffic field includes user traffic data for the one or more user devices of the corresponding user device set & [0156])
(Kim suggests scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using the sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users, (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0005], [0073-0076], [0118], [0147], & [0156]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the WiFi access point to transmit during the second time slot in response to determining that the first NR-U radio unit is refraining from transmitting during the second time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka to perform the transmission during the time slot using a majority of the sub-channels of the channel as disclosed in the teachings of Kim, because the motivation lies in Kim for scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using the sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users.
Regarding Claims 7 and 14 the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Kim discloses the method and apparatus of claims 1 and 8, but does not disclose the claim feature of communicating a message to the first NR-U that instructs the first NR-U to refrain from transmitting during the first time slot. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141).
Nagasaka discloses communicating a message to the first NR-U that instructs the first NR-U to refrain from transmitting during a time slot (see Fig. 19 & Para’s [0212-0213] i.e., data transmission ratio determined between LTE and WLAN based on the size of each buffer may include refraining LTE transmission as a possibility & [0282-0285] i.e., the MeNB 200M may notify (i.e., “message”) the SeNB 200S of a transmission ratio information indicating a ratio of the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data (i.e., LTE radio unit will refrain from transmission based on the indicated ratio))
Nagasaka suggests the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit (i.e., base station) transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio (see Para [0220]) and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/WiFi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes, (see Para’s [0212-0213] & [0280-0285])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the data transmissions of the WiFi access point and the first NR-U radio unit during the time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist to be scheduled by receiving buffer status reports from the WiFi AP and the first NR-U radio unit, and for scheduling the first NR-U to refrain from transmitting during the first time slot based on the teachings of Nagasaka who discloses scheduling downlink data transmissions of both a WiFi access point and first radio unit (i.e., base station) based on respective buffer status reports received from the WiFi access point and the first radio unit in which a determined data transmission ratio based on the buffer status reports may include the first base station radio unit refraining from transmitting data based on a received message instructing the first radio base station to refrain from transmitting, because the motivation lies in Nagasaka that the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes.
Regarding Claim 8, Liu discloses an apparatus (see Para [0021] i.e., the upper-layer network element & [0215]) comprising a processor configured to:
an access point (see Fig. 7 i.e., Femto BS2 & Para’s [0215] i.e., Femto BS2)
and a first radio unit (see Fig. 7 i.e., Macro base station (BS) 1 & Para [0215] i.e., Macro BS1)
and scheduling, the access point to transmit during a first time slot (see Fig. 11 i.e., time slot Tc) including sub-channels of a channel (see Fig. 11 i.e., resource blocks for sending the signals from the each of the base stations may be sub-channels & Para’s [0214-0215] i.e., the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 send auxiliary detection signaling on appropriate resource blocks (i.e., sub-channels) of the carrier frequency Fc (i.e., includes a channel)) and scheduling the first radio unit to transmit during the first time slot (see Fig. 11 & Para’s [0126] i.e., the time-frequency resource block when an auxiliary detection signaling is sent may be located within a downlink sub-frame (i.e., downlink sub-frame includes a channel), [0141], & [0214] i.e., the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 send auxiliary detection signaling on appropriate resource blocks of the carrier frequency Fc (i.e., includes a “channel”) & [0215] i.e., an upper-layer network element notifies, through corresponding signaling, the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 of location information of the resource blocks (i.e., “scheduling”) for sending auxiliary detection signaling at the carrier frequency Fc. As shown in Fig. 11, S1c, S2c, S3c, and S4c, which respectively represent the auxiliary detection signaling sent by the Macro BS1, the Femto BS2, the Femto BS3, and the Femto BS4 at the carrier frequency Fc, are four groups of pilot sequences that are mutually orthogonal and occupy the same time slot Tc)
While Liu does discloses the femto base station (i.e., “access point”) (see Para [0215] i.e., Femto BS2), Liu does not disclose the femto base station is a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Yamamoto et al. US (2015/0351090).
Yamamoto discloses a femto base station may be a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (see Fig. 3 i.e., WiFi communication unit of Femto Base Station 4 & Para’s [0040-0043] i.e., WiFi (Wireless Fidelity)…In the following explanation, the example is used where the system other than a mobile communication wireless access system, which is used by the femto base station 4 for the wireless access channel with the mobile station 5, is the WiFi, [0082] & [0084] i.e., WiFi communication unit 54 for use for the wireless access channel between the femto base station 4 and the mobile station 5)
(Yamamoto suggests the femto base station 4 forms a relatively small sized wireless communication area called a “femto cell” where it performs wireless communication with a mobile station 5 for providing network coverage to the mobile station in the small sized area and for supporting wireless communication with the mobile station according to the WiFi communication standard when needed, (see Para’s [0040-0041], [0082], & [0084])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the femto base station disclosed in the teachings of Liu to be a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point such as the femto base station disclosed in the teachings of Yamamoto who discloses a femto base station including a WiFi communication unit for communicating with a mobile station using a WiFi communication channel, because the motivation lies in Yamamoto that the femto base station forms a relatively small sized wireless communication area called a “femto cell” where it performs wireless communication with a mobile station for providing network coverage to the mobile station in the small sized area and for supporting wireless communication with the mobile station according to the WiFi communication standard when needed.
While the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto discloses a first radio unit such as the macro base station (BS1), (Liu, see Para [0215]), the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto does not disclose a first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Almquist et al. US (2021/0298009).
Almquist discloses a macro eNB may be a first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit (see Fig. 8 i.e., macro base station 802-1 & Para’s [0094] i.e., the cellular communications network 800 is a 5G NR network in which at least some of the cells are NR-U cells or the cellular communication network 800 is a NR-U network. In this example, the cellular communications network 800 includes base stations 802-1 (i.e., “first NR-U radio unit”) and 802-2 which in 5G NR and NR-U are referred to as NR base stations (gNBs) (i.e., “first NR-U radio unit”), controlling corresponding macro cells 804-1 and 804-2 & [0102])
(Almquist suggests the macro eNB may (i.e., first (NR-U) radio unit) is used for supporting new radio (NR) in the unlicensed bands and for satisfying the requirements for unlicensed band operation such as power requirements over the occupied channel bandwidth by designing an appropriate PUCCH (see Para’s [0022-0024]) with appropriate symbol repetition mapping which results in increased performance and reduced interference and power consumption for the UE, (see Para’s [0022-0024] & [0070-0075])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the Macro base station disclosed in the teachings of Liu in view of Yamamoto to be a first NR-U radio unit such as the macro eNB disclosed in the teachings of Almquist who discloses a macro eNB may be a first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit controlling corresponding macro cells of a NR-U network, because the motivation lies in Almquist that the NR-U radio unit such as the macro eNB is used for supporting new radio (NR) in the unlicensed bands and for satisfying the requirements for unlicensed band operation such as power requirements over the occupied channel bandwidth by designing an appropriate PUCCH with appropriate symbol repetition mapping which results in increased performance and reduced interference and power consumption for the UE.
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist does not disclose the claim features of receiving a first buffer status report from the wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point, the first buffer status report indicating a first amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the Wi-Fi access point; receiving a second buffer status report from the first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit, the second buffer status report indicating a second amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the NR-U, scheduling, based at least in part on the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report, both the WiFi access point and first NR-U radio unit transmissions, and scheduling the first NR-U to refrain from transmitting. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141).
Nagasaka discloses receiving a first buffer status report from a WiFi access point (see Fig. 11 i.e., WLAN communication unit 220, Fig. 19 & Para’s [0185], [0212] i.e., buffer for the LTE communication and a buffer for the WLAN communication are separately disposed…data transmission ratio between LTE and the WLAN is changed according to buffer size/state acquired from each buffer, [0279] i.e., the controller 230 of the SeNB 200s notifies the MeNB 200M of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., buffer accumulation amount of WLAN transmission data may be the “first buffer status report”) individually, & [0281] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., “first buffer status report”) individually to the MeNB 200M).
the first buffer status report indicating a first amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the Wi-Fi access point (see Para’s [0212] & [0280-0285] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data to the MeNB 200M)
receiving a second buffer status report from a first radio unit (i.e., base station) (see Fig. Fig. 11 i.e., LTE communication unit 210, Fig. 19 & Para’s [0184], [0212] i.e., buffer for the LTE communication and a buffer for the WLAN communication are separately disposed…data transmission ratio between LTE and the WLAN is changed according to buffer size/state acquired from each buffer, [0279] i.e., the controller 230 of the SeNB 200s notifies the MeNB 200M of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., buffer accumulation amount of LTE transmission data may be the “second buffer status report”) individually, & [0281] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data (i.e., “second buffer status report”) and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data individually to the MeNB 200M).
the second buffer status report indicating a second amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the first base station radio unit (see Para’s [0212] & [0280-0285] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data to the MeNB 200M)
scheduling (see Fig. 19 i.e., Step S652), based at least in part on the first amount of traffic and the second amount of traffic (see Para’s [0280-0282]), the downlink transmissions of both the WiFi access point and first radio unit (i.e., base station), (see Fig. 19 & Para’s [0279-0285] i.e., In step S652, the MeNB 200M allocates (i.e., “scheduling”) the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data in the SeNB 200S on the basis of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data).
and scheduling the first NR-U (i.e., first radio base station unit) to refrain from transmitting (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0030] i.e., the controller 112 instructs the NR-U radio unit to refrain from transmitting if the buffer status report of the NR-U radio unit indicates little or no traffic awaiting transmission. Nagasaka discloses a possibility that the buffer status report of the first base station radio unit may have little or no traffic in which the Wi-Fi AP is scheduled for transmission and the first base station radio may refrain from transmitting based on a determined data transmission ratio between LTE and WLAN according to their buffer status reports, (Nagasaka, see Para’s [0212] i.e., the eNB 200 may change the data transmission ratio between the LTE and the WLAN in accordance with a size of each buffer, [0213] i.e., a WLAN transmission ratio is increased and the LTE transmission ratio is decreased (i.e., LTE may refrain from transmitting based on having little or no traffic as a possibility) & [0280-0285] i.e., the MeNB 200M allocates the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data on the basis of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data…the MeNB 200M may notify the SenB 200S of transmission ratio information indicating a ratio of the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data…In steps S655 and S656, the SeNB 200S transmits the downlink data to the UE 100 through the LTE communication and the WLAN communication on the basis of the control information (the transmission ratio information) transmitted from the MeNB 200M (i.e., LTE data transmission may be refrained based on the determined transmission ratio))
(Nagasaka suggests the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit (i.e., base station) transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio (see Para [0220]) and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes, (see Para’s [0212-0213] & [0280-0285])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the data transmissions of the WiFi access point and the first NR-U radio unit during the time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist to be scheduled by receiving buffer status reports from the WiFi AP and the first NR-U radio unit, and for scheduling the first NR-U to refrain from transmitting during the first time slot based on the teachings of Nagasaka who discloses scheduling downlink data transmissions of both a WiFi access point and first radio unit (i.e., base station) based on respective buffer status reports received from the WiFi access point and the first radio unit in which a determined data transmission ratio based on the buffer status reports may include the first base station radio unit refraining from transmitting data while the WiFi access points is scheduled to transmit data, because the motivation lies in Nagasaka that the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes.
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka does not disclose the claim feature of the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Kim et al. US (2016/0380731).
Kim discloses the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0004-0008], [0038] i.e., PDU is transmitted on each of the plurality of subchannels, [0065-0070] i.e., an access point may transmit a protocol data unit (PDU) having the structure shown in Fig. 4. The protocol data unit may span a channel having a specified bandwidth e.g., a bandwidth of 80 MHz. The channel may include four subchannels. Each subchannel may be 20MHz in width. The protocol data unit may include a preamble as well as a traffic (i.e., user data) section, [0071-0072] i.e., Each of the sections may span the channel bandwidth and a corresponding interval in time (i.e., may be a “time slot”), [0075-0076], [0118], [0142] i.e., The wireless PDU may include a first signaling section, a second signaling section and a traffic section e.g., as shown in Fig. 11B…each section may include one or more OFDM symbols. Each OFDM symbol may span the channel and occupy a corresponding OFDM symbol interval in time (i.e., the OFDM symbols are part of a “time slot”), [0144] i.e., access points scheduling algorithm, [0147] i.e., scheduling algorithm of the access point, [0156], & [0166])
(Kim suggests scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using all sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users, (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0005], [0073-0076], [0118], [0147], & [0156])
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the Wi-Fi access point which transmits during the time slot while the first NR-U refrains from transmitting during the first time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka to be scheduled to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel based on the teachings of Kim who discloses a WiFi access point is scheduled to transmit during a time slot using all sub-channels of a channel, because the motivation lies in Kim for scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using all sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users.
While Nagasaka discloses scheduling the Wifi access point to transmit based on the first amount of WLAN traffic indicated in the first buffer status report and scheduling the NR-U to refrain from transmitting based on the second amount of traffic in the second buffer status report having no traffic in the buffer as a possibility (Nagasaka, see Para’s [0212] i.e., the eNB 200 may change the data transmission ratio between the LTE and the WLAN in accordance with a size of each buffer, [0213] i.e., a WLAN transmission ratio is increased and the LTE transmission ratio is decreased (i.e., LTE may refrain from transmitting based on having little or no traffic as a possibility) & [0280-0285]), the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim does not disclose the claim features of such scheduling of the WIFI and NR-U traffic being based on the first amount of traffic being equal to or greater than a threshold amount of traffic and the second amount of traffic being less than the threshold amount of traffic. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Kanamarlapudi et al. US (2022/0030461).
Kanamarlapudi discloses a transmission buffer (see Fig. 4 i.e., buffer 412) including a configured threshold (see Fig. 4 i.e., low threshold 420b) in which when an amount of traffic being equal to or greater than the threshold 420b may be scheduled for transmission and when an amount of traffic being less than the threshold 420b (i.e., such as for example “no traffic” or zero traffic which is less than the threshold 420b) is not scheduled for transmission (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0054] i.e., packets from uplink buffer 412 are sent during scheduled TTIs (i.e., when amount of traffic is greater than low threshold 420b), [0056] i.e., uplink buffer 412 may be configured to queue data to be transmitted over the wireless network, [0061-0063] i.e., data queued in the uplink buffer 412 is sent based on a data size of data queued in memory which may be referred to as uplink watermark 470 (WM) expressed in a byte size (e.g., bytes, kB, and/or MB) that indicates the data size currently queued in the uplink buffer 412 (i.e., when amount of traffic is equal to or greater than low threshold 420b, data is scheduled for transmission from the buffer 412), [0067-0071], [0073-0074] i.e., the low threshold 420b may be configured to be a data size).
(Kanamarlapudi suggests the threshold 420a, 420b, and 420c are configured in the buffer for determining whether additional data should or should not be queued in the buffer for not exceeding the buffer’s capacity based on the amount or size of buffered data compared to the thresholds, (see Para’s [0067-0068] & [0070-0071])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the amount of WLAN traffic in the WiFi buffer and the scheduling of the NR-U to refrain from transmitting based on the second amount of traffic in the NR-U buffer having no traffic as a possibility as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim for each of the WiFi buffer and NR-U buffer to be configured with the threshold 420b of the transmission buffer as disclosed in Kanamarlapudi who discloses when an amount of traffic being equal to or greater than the threshold 420b of the buffer may be scheduled for transmission and when an amount of traffic being less than the threshold 420b (i.e., “no traffic” or zero traffic) is not scheduled for transmission, which results in scheduling, the WiFi traffic based on the first amount of traffic being equal to or greater than the configured threshold amount of traffic and refraining the NR-U traffic based on the second amount of traffic being less than the configured threshold amount of traffic, because the motivation lies in Kanamarlapudi that the threshold 420a, 420b, and 420c are configured in the buffer for determining whether additional data should or should not be queued in the buffer for not exceeding the buffer’s capacity based on the amount or size of buffered data compared to the thresholds.
Regarding Claim 9, the claim is directed towards an apparatus which performs the same claim features as claim 2. Therefore claim 9 is rejected as obvious over the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim as in claim 2.
Regarding Claim 15, Liu discloses a processor (see Para [0021] i.e., the upper-layer network element may comprise an access serving network which includes a processor & [0215]) to: an access point (see Fig. 7 i.e., Femto BS2 & Para’s [0215] i.e., Femto BS2)
and a first radio unit (see Fig. 7 i.e., Macro base station (BS) 1 & Para [0215] i.e., Macro BS1)
and scheduling, both the access point and the first radio unit to transmit during a first time slot (see Fig. 11 i.e., time slot Tc) using a channel (see Fig. 11 & Para’s [0126] i.e., the time-frequency resource block when an auxiliary detection signaling is sent may be located within a downlink sub-frame (i.e., downlink sub-frame includes a channel), [0141], & [0214] i.e., the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 send auxiliary detection signaling on appropriate resource blocks of the carrier frequency Fc (i.e., includes a “channel”) & [0215] i.e., an upper-layer network element notifies, through corresponding signaling, the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 of location information of the resource blocks (i.e., “scheduling”) for sending auxiliary detection signaling at the carrier frequency Fc. As shown in Fig. 11, S1c, S2c, S3c, and S4c, which respectively represent the auxiliary detection signaling sent by the Macro BS1, the Femto BS2, the Femto BS3, and the Femto BS4 at the carrier frequency Fc, are four groups of pilot sequences that are mutually orthogonal and occupy the same time slot Tc)
the access point to transmit during a first time slot (see Fig. 11 i.e., time slot Tc) including sub-channels of a channel (see Fig. 11 i.e., resource blocks for sending the signals from the each of the base stations may be sub-channels & Para’s [0214-0215] i.e., the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 send auxiliary detection signaling on appropriate resource blocks (i.e., sub-channels) of the carrier frequency Fc (i.e., includes a channel)) and scheduling the first radio unit to transmit during the first time slot (see Fig. 11 & Para’s [0126] i.e., the time-frequency resource block when an auxiliary detection signaling is sent may be located within a downlink sub-frame (i.e., downlink sub-frame includes a channel), [0141], & [0214] i.e., the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 send auxiliary detection signaling on appropriate resource blocks of the carrier frequency Fc (i.e., includes a “channel”) & [0215] i.e., an upper-layer network element notifies, through corresponding signaling, the Macro BS1 and the Femto BS2 of location information of the resource blocks (i.e., “scheduling”) for sending auxiliary detection signaling at the carrier frequency Fc. As shown in Fig. 11, S1c, S2c, S3c, and S4c, which respectively represent the auxiliary detection signaling sent by the Macro BS1, the Femto BS2, the Femto BS3, and the Femto BS4 at the carrier frequency Fc, are four groups of pilot sequences that are mutually orthogonal and occupy the same time slot Tc)
While Liu does discloses the femto base station (i.e., “access point”) (see Para [0215] i.e., Femto BS2), Liu does not disclose the femto base station is a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Yamamoto et al. US (2015/0351090).
Yamamoto discloses a femto base station may be a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (see Fig. 3 i.e., WiFi communication unit of Femto Base Station 4 & Para’s [0040-0043] i.e., WiFi (Wireless Fidelity)…In the following explanation, the example is used where the system other than a mobile communication wireless access system, which is used by the femto base station 4 for the wireless access channel with the mobile station 5, is the WiFi, [0082] & [0084] i.e., WiFi communication unit 54 for use for the wireless access channel between the femto base station 4 and the mobile station 5)
(Yamamoto suggests the femto base station 4 forms a relatively small sized wireless communication area called a “femto cell” where it performs wireless communication with a mobile station 5 for providing network coverage to the mobile station in the small sized area and for supporting wireless communication with the mobile station according to the WiFi communication standard when needed, (see Para’s [0040-0041], [0082], & [0084])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the femto base station disclosed in the teachings of Liu to be a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point such as the femto base station disclosed in the teachings of Yamamoto who discloses a femto base station including a WiFi communication unit for communicating with a mobile station using a WiFi communication channel, because the motivation lies in Yamamoto that the femto base station forms a relatively small sized wireless communication area called a “femto cell” where it performs wireless communication with a mobile station for providing network coverage to the mobile station in the small sized area and for supporting wireless communication with the mobile station according to the WiFi communication standard when needed.
While the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto discloses a first radio unit such as the macro base station (BS1), (Liu, see Para [0215]), the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto does not disclose a first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Almquist et al. US (2021/0298009).
Almquist discloses a macro eNB may be a first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit (see Fig. 8 i.e., macro base station 802-1 & Para’s [0094] i.e., the cellular communications network 800 is a 5G NR network in which at least some of the cells are NR-U cells or the cellular communication network 800 is a NR-U network. In this example, the cellular communications network 800 includes base stations 802-1 (i.e., “first NR-U radio unit”) and 802-2 which in 5G NR and NR-U are referred to as NR base stations (gNBs) (i.e., “first NR-U radio unit”), controlling corresponding macro cells 804-1 and 804-2 & [0102])
(Almquist suggests the macro eNB may (i.e., first (NR-U) radio unit) is used for supporting new radio (NR) in the unlicensed bands and for satisfying the requirements for unlicensed band operation such as power requirements over the occupied channel bandwidth by designing an appropriate PUCCH (see Para’s [0022-0024]) with appropriate symbol repetition mapping which results in increased performance and reduced interference and power consumption for the UE, (see Para’s [0022-0024] & [0070-0075])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the Macro base station disclosed in the teachings of Liu in view of Yamamoto to be a first NR-U radio unit such as the macro eNB disclosed in the teachings of Almquist who discloses a macro eNB may be a first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit controlling corresponding macro cells of a NR-U network, because the motivation lies in Almquist that the NR-U radio unit such as the macro eNB is used for supporting new radio (NR) in the unlicensed bands and for satisfying the requirements for unlicensed band operation such as power requirements over the occupied channel bandwidth by designing an appropriate PUCCH with appropriate symbol repetition mapping which results in increased performance and reduced interference and power consumption for the UE.
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist does not disclose the claim features of receiving a first buffer status report from the wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point, the first buffer status report indicating a first amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the Wi-Fi access point; receiving a second buffer status report from the first New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) radio unit, the second buffer status report indicating a second amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the NR-U, scheduling, based at least in part on the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report, both the WiFi access point and first NR-U radio unit transmissions, and scheduling the first NR-U to refrain from transmitting. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141).
Nagasaka discloses receiving a first buffer status report from a WiFi access point (see Fig. 11 i.e., WLAN communication unit 220, Fig. 19 & Para’s [0185], [0212] i.e., buffer for the LTE communication and a buffer for the WLAN communication are separately disposed…data transmission ratio between LTE and the WLAN is changed according to buffer size/state acquired from each buffer, [0279] i.e., the controller 230 of the SeNB 200s notifies the MeNB 200M of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., buffer accumulation amount of WLAN transmission data may be the “first buffer status report”) individually, & [0281] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., “first buffer status report”) individually to the MeNB 200M).
the first buffer status report indicating a first amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the Wi-Fi access point (see Para’s [0212] & [0280-0285] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data to the MeNB 200M)
receiving a second buffer status report from a first radio unit (i.e., base station) (see Fig. Fig. 11 i.e., LTE communication unit 210, Fig. 19 & Para’s [0184], [0212] i.e., buffer for the LTE communication and a buffer for the WLAN communication are separately disposed…data transmission ratio between LTE and the WLAN is changed according to buffer size/state acquired from each buffer, [0279] i.e., the controller 230 of the SeNB 200s notifies the MeNB 200M of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., buffer accumulation amount of LTE transmission data may be the “second buffer status report”) individually, & [0281] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data (i.e., “second buffer status report”) and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data individually to the MeNB 200M).
the second buffer status report indicating a second amount of traffic is awaiting transmission at the first base station radio unit (see Para’s [0212] & [0280-0285] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data to the MeNB 200M)
scheduling (see Fig. 19 i.e., Step S652), based at least in part on the first amount of traffic and the second amount of traffic (see Para’s [0280-0282]), the downlink transmissions of both the WiFi access point and first radio unit (i.e., base station), (see Fig. 19 & Para’s [0279-0285] i.e., In step S652, the MeNB 200M allocates (i.e., “scheduling”) the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data in the SeNB 200S on the basis of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data).
and scheduling the first NR-U (i.e., first radio base station unit) to refrain from transmitting (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0030] i.e., the controller 112 instructs the NR-U radio unit to refrain from transmitting if the buffer status report of the NR-U radio unit indicates little or no traffic awaiting transmission. Nagasaka discloses a possibility that the buffer status report of the first base station radio unit may have little or no traffic in which the Wi-Fi AP is scheduled for transmission and the first base station radio may refrain from transmitting based on a determined data transmission ratio between LTE and WLAN according to their buffer status reports, (Nagasaka, see Para’s [0212] i.e., the eNB 200 may change the data transmission ratio between the LTE and the WLAN in accordance with a size of each buffer, [0213] i.e., a WLAN transmission ratio is increased and the LTE transmission ratio is decreased (i.e., LTE may refrain from transmitting based on having little or no traffic as a possibility) & [0280-0285] i.e., the MeNB 200M allocates the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data on the basis of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data…the MeNB 200M may notify the SenB 200S of transmission ratio information indicating a ratio of the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data…In steps S655 and S656, the SeNB 200S transmits the downlink data to the UE 100 through the LTE communication and the WLAN communication on the basis of the control information (the transmission ratio information) transmitted from the MeNB 200M (i.e., LTE data transmission may be refrained based on the determined transmission ratio))
(Nagasaka suggests the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit (i.e., base station) transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio (see Para [0220]) and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes, (see Para’s [0212-0213] & [0280-0285])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the data transmissions of the WiFi access point and the first NR-U radio unit during the time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist to be scheduled by receiving buffer status reports from the WiFi AP and the first NR-U radio unit, and for scheduling the first NR-U to refrain from transmitting during the first time slot based on the teachings of Nagasaka who discloses scheduling downlink data transmissions of both a WiFi access point and first radio unit (i.e., base station) based on respective buffer status reports received from the WiFi access point and the first radio unit in which a determined data transmission ratio based on the buffer status reports may include the first base station radio unit refraining from transmitting data while the WiFi access points is scheduled to transmit data, because the motivation lies in Nagasaka that the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes.
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka does not disclose the claim feature of the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Kim et al. US (2016/0380731).
Kim discloses the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0004-0008], [0038] i.e., PDU is transmitted on each of the plurality of subchannels, [0065-0070] i.e., an access point may transmit a protocol data unit (PDU) having the structure shown in Fig. 4. The protocol data unit may span a channel having a specified bandwidth e.g., a bandwidth of 80 MHz. The channel may include four subchannels. Each subchannel may be 20MHz in width. The protocol data unit may include a preamble as well as a traffic (i.e., user data) section, [0071-0072] i.e., Each of the sections may span the channel bandwidth and a corresponding interval in time (i.e., may be a “time slot”), [0075-0076], [0118], [0142] i.e., The wireless PDU may include a first signaling section, a second signaling section and a traffic section e.g., as shown in Fig. 11B…each section may include one or more OFDM symbols. Each OFDM symbol may span the channel and occupy a corresponding OFDM symbol interval in time (i.e., the OFDM symbols are part of a “time slot”), [0144] i.e., access points scheduling algorithm, [0147] i.e., scheduling algorithm of the access point, [0156], & [0166])
(Kim suggests scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using all sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users, (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0005], [0073-0076], [0118], [0147], & [0156])
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the Wi-Fi access point which transmits during the time slot while the first NR-U refrains from transmitting during the first time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka to be scheduled to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel based on the teachings of Kim who discloses a WiFi access point is scheduled to transmit during a time slot using all sub-channels of a channel, because the motivation lies in Kim for scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using all sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users.
While Nagasaka discloses scheduling the Wifi access point to transmit based on the first amount of WLAN traffic indicated in the first buffer status report and scheduling the NR-U to refrain from transmitting based on the second amount of traffic in the second buffer status report having no traffic in the buffer as a possibility (Nagasaka, see Para’s [0212] i.e., the eNB 200 may change the data transmission ratio between the LTE and the WLAN in accordance with a size of each buffer, [0213] i.e., a WLAN transmission ratio is increased and the LTE transmission ratio is decreased (i.e., LTE may refrain from transmitting based on having little or no traffic as a possibility) & [0280-0285]), the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim does not disclose the claim features of such scheduling of the WIFI and NR-U traffic being based on the first amount of traffic being equal to or greater than a threshold amount of traffic and the second amount of traffic being less than the threshold amount of traffic. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Kanamarlapudi et al. US (2022/0030461).
Kanamarlapudi discloses a transmission buffer (see Fig. 4 i.e., buffer 412) including a configured threshold (see Fig. 4 i.e., low threshold 420b) in which when an amount of traffic being equal to or greater than the threshold 420b may be scheduled for transmission and when an amount of traffic being less than the threshold 420b (i.e., such as for example “no traffic” or zero traffic which is less than the threshold 420b) is not scheduled for transmission (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0054] i.e., packets from uplink buffer 412 are sent during scheduled TTIs (i.e., when amount of traffic is greater than low threshold 420b), [0056] i.e., uplink buffer 412 may be configured to queue data to be transmitted over the wireless network, [0061-0063] i.e., data queued in the uplink buffer 412 is sent based on a data size of data queued in memory which may be referred to as uplink watermark 470 (WM) expressed in a byte size (e.g., bytes, kB, and/or MB) that indicates the data size currently queued in the uplink buffer 412 (i.e., when amount of traffic is equal to or greater than low threshold 420b, data is scheduled for transmission from the buffer 412), [0067-0071], [0073-0074] i.e., the low threshold 420b may be configured to be a data size).
(Kanamarlapudi suggests the threshold 420a, 420b, and 420c are configured in the buffer for determining whether additional data should or should not be queued in the buffer for not exceeding the buffer’s capacity based on the amount or size of buffered data compared to the thresholds, (see Para’s [0067-0068] & [0070-0071])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the amount of WLAN traffic in the WiFi buffer and the scheduling of the NR-U to refrain from transmitting based on the second amount of traffic in the NR-U buffer having no traffic as a possibility as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim for each of the WiFi buffer and NR-U buffer to be configured with the threshold 420b of the transmission buffer as disclosed in Kanamarlapudi who discloses when an amount of traffic being equal to or greater than the threshold 420b of the buffer may be scheduled for transmission and when an amount of traffic being less than the threshold 420b (i.e., “no traffic” or zero traffic) is not scheduled for transmission, which results in scheduling, the WiFi traffic based on the first amount of traffic being equal to or greater than the configured threshold amount of traffic and refraining the NR-U traffic based on the second amount of traffic being less than the configured threshold amount of traffic, because the motivation lies in Kanamarlapudi that the threshold 420a, 420b, and 420c are configured in the buffer for determining whether additional data should or should not be queued in the buffer for not exceeding the buffer’s capacity based on the amount or size of buffered data compared to the thresholds.
Regarding Claim 16, the claim is directed towards an apparatus which performs the same claim features as claim 2. Therefore claim 16 is rejected as obvious over the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim as in claim 2.
Claims 3, 10, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. US (2011/0269451) in view of Yamamoto et al. US (2015/0351090), further in view of Almquist et al. US (2021/0298009), further in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141), and further in view of Kim et al. US (2016/0380731) as applied to claims 1, 8, and 15 above, and further in view of Mukherjee et al. US (2018/0324828).
Regarding Claims 3, 10, and 17 the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, discloses the method, apparatus, and medium of claims 1, 8, and 15 but does not disclose wherein scheduling the WiFi access point to transmit during the first time slot is further based at least in part on an amount of traffic awaiting transmission at the WiFi access point. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141).
Nagasaka discloses scheduling a WiFi access point to transmit is further based at least in part on an amount of traffic awaiting transmission at the WiFi access point, (see Para’s [0212-0213] & [0281] i.e., the SeNB 200S transmits the buffer notification indicating the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data (i.e., “first buffer status report”) individually to the MeNB 200M & [0282])
(Nagasaka suggests the scheduling based on the received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit (i.e., base station) transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio (see Para [0220]) and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes, (see Para’s [0212-0213] & [0280-0285])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the data transmissions of the WiFi access point and the first NR-U radio unit to transmit during the first time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, and further in view of Almquist to be scheduled by receiving buffer status reports indicating the amount of traffic awaiting transmission from the WiFi AP based on the teachings of Nagasaka who discloses scheduling downlink data transmissions of a WiFi access point based on a buffer status report indicating an amount of traffic awaiting transmission at the WiFi access point received from the WiFi access point, because the motivation lies in Nagasaka that the scheduling based on received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between the first radio unit transmission and the WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and first radio unit communications based on the respective buffer sizes.
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka does not disclose the claim feature of the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel based at least on the amount of traffic. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Kim et al. US (2016/0380731).
Kim discloses the WiFi access point to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel based at least on the amount of traffic awaiting transmission at the WiFi access point, (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0004-0008], [0038] i.e., PDU is transmitted on each of the plurality of subchannels, [0065-0070] i.e., an access point may transmit a protocol data unit (PDU) having the structure shown in Fig. 4. The protocol data unit may span a channel having a specified bandwidth e.g., a bandwidth of 80 MHz. The channel may include four subchannels. Each subchannel may be 20MHz in width. The protocol data unit may include a preamble as well as a traffic (i.e., user data) section, [0071-0072] i.e., Each of the sections may span the channel bandwidth and a corresponding interval in time (i.e., may be a “time slot”), [0075-0076], [0118], [0142] i.e., The wireless PDU may include a first signaling section, a second signaling section and a traffic section e.g., as shown in Fig. 11B…each section may include one or more OFDM symbols. Each OFDM symbol may span the channel and occupy a corresponding OFDM symbol interval in time (i.e., the OFDM symbols are part of a “time slot”), [0144] i.e., access points scheduling algorithm, [0147] i.e., scheduling algorithm of the access point, [0156], & [0166])
(Kim suggests scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using all sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users, (see Fig. 4 & Para’s [0005], [0073-0076], [0118], [0147], & [0156])
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the Wi-Fi access point which transmits during the time slot while the first NR-U refrains from transmitting during the first time slot as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka to be scheduled to transmit during the time slot using all sub-channels of the channel based on the teachings of Kim who discloses a WiFi access point is scheduled to transmit during a time slot using all sub-channels of a channel, because the motivation lies in Kim for scheduling the Wi-Fi AP to transmit using all sub-channels of the channel based on a certain amount of data traffic at the Wi-Fi AP for a group of users for satisfying scheduling of the Wi-Fi AP’s data traffic to the group of users.
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Nagasaka does not disclose scheduling the WiFi access point based at least in part on latency sensitive traffic at the WiFi access point. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Mukherjee et al. US (2018/0324828).
Mukherjee discloses the scheduling transmissions of both a WiFi access point and a first radio unit (i.e., base station/LTE transmission) is further based at least in part on latency sensitive traffic at the WiFi access point and at the first NR-U radio unit (see Para’s [0082] i.e., The QoS may be based on at least one of the following: delay, jitter (i.e., “delay sensitive traffic”) received via the communication channel, [0117-0118] i.e., time sharing performed between LTE transmissions and WLAN transmissions is based upon…relative traffic loads (i.e., “amount”) and QoS (Quality of Service) classes of traffic for each RAT (i.e., “latency sensitive traffic” is associated with each RAT according to QoS classes of the traffic for each RAT))
(Mukherjee suggests the scheduling of the transmissions of both of the WiFi access point and a first radio unit (i.e., base station/LTE transmission) is further based at least in part on an amount of latency sensitive traffic at each of the RATs for satisfying the quality of service requirement such as latency or delay of the traffic according to the QoS class of the traffic at each RAT, (see Para’s [0117-0118])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the amount of data transmissions of the WiFi access point as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim to be further based at least in part on latency sensitive traffic at the WiFi access point based on the teachings of Mukherjee who discloses the scheduling transmissions of both a WiFi access point and a first radio unit (i.e., base station) is further based at least in part on an amount of latency sensitive traffic at the WiFi access point and at the first radio unit (i.e., base station), because the motivation lies in Mukherjee that the scheduling of the transmissions of both of the WiFi access point and a first radio unit is further based at least in part on an amount of latency sensitive traffic at each of the RATs for satisfying the quality of service requirement such as latency or delay of the traffic according to the QoS class of the traffic at each RAT.
Claims 6, 13, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. US (2011/0269451) in view of Yamamoto et al. US (2015/0351090), further in view of Almquist et al. US (2021/0298009), and further in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141), and further in view of Kim et al. US (2016/0380731) as applied to claims 1, 8, and 15 above, and further in view of Noh et al. US (2023/0224891).
Regarding Claims 6, 13, and 20 the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Kim discloses the method, apparatus, and medium of claim 1, 8, and 15 further comprising: a second radio unit, (Liu, see Para [0215] i.e., the Femto BS3)
and scheduling, the second radio unit to transmit during the first time slot, (see Fig. 11 i.e., the resource block allocated for signal S3c sent from Femto BS3 may be a “third-subchannel” of the Femto BS3 which is located in different frequency range from the first sub-channel (i.e., resource block) of the Macro BS1 and the second-subchannel (i.e., resource block) of the Femto BS2 & Para’s [0214-0215] i.e., an upper-layer network element notifies, through corresponding signaling, the Macro BS1, the Femto BS2, the Femto BS3, and the Femto BS4 of location information of the resource blocks (i.e., resource block for sending the auxiliary detection signal from Femto BS3 may correspond to a “third sub-channel”, the resource block for sending the auxiliary detection signal from the macro BS1 may correspond to a “second sub-channel”, and the resource block for sending the auxiliary detection signal from the Femto BS2 may correspond to a “first sub-channel”) for sending auxiliary detection signaling at the carrier frequency Fc. As shown in Fig. 11, S1c, S2c, S3c, and S4c, which respectively represent the auxiliary detection signaling sent by the Macro BS1, the Femto BS2, the Femto BS3, and the Femto BS4 at the carrier frequency Fc, are four groups of pilot sequences that are mutually orthogonal and occupy the same time slot Tc).
The combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Kim does not disclose the claim features of receiving a third buffer status report from a second radio unit; and scheduling, based at least in part on the third buffer status report, the second radio unit to refrain from transmitting. However the claim features would be rendered obvious in view of Nagasaka et al. US (2017/0367141).
Nagasaka discloses scheduling a radio unit (see Fig. 11 i.e., 220 & Para [0185]) based on a received buffer status report (see Fig. 19 i.e., step S651 Buffer notification of WLAN & Para’s [0212] & [0279-0286]) to refrain from transmitting (In light of the applicants specification in Para [0030] i.e., the controller 112 instructs the NR-U radio unit to refrain from transmitting if the buffer status report of the NR-U radio unit indicates little or no traffic awaiting transmission. Nagasaka discloses a possibility that the buffer status report of the first base station radio unit may have little or no traffic in which the Wi-Fi AP is scheduled for transmission and the base station radio unit may refrain from transmitting based on a determined data transmission ratio between LTE and WLAN according to their buffer status reports, (Nagasaka, see Para’s [0212] i.e., the eNB 200 may change the data transmission ratio between the LTE and the WLAN in accordance with a size of each buffer, [0213] i.e., a WLAN transmission ratio is increased and the LTE transmission ratio is decreased (i.e., LTE may refrain from transmitting based on having little or no traffic as a possibility) & [0280-0285] i.e., the MeNB 200M allocates the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data on the basis of the buffer accumulation amount of the LTE transmission data and the buffer accumulation amount of the WLAN transmission data…the MeNB 200M may notify the SenB 200S of transmission ratio information indicating a ratio of the LTE transmission data and the WLAN transmission data…In steps S655 and S656, the SeNB 200S transmits the downlink data to the UE 100 through the LTE communication and the WLAN communication on the basis of the control information (the transmission ratio information) transmitted from the MeNB 200M (i.e., LTE data transmission may be refrained based on the determined transmission ratio))
(Nagasaka suggests the scheduling based on received buffer status reports includes changing the data transmission ratio between a base station LTE transmission and a WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio (see Para [0220]) and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between the WLAN/Wifi AP and LTE communications based on the respective buffer sizes, (see Para’s [0212-0213] & [0280-0285])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the scheduling of the data transmissions of the second radio unit such as the Femto BS3 as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, and further in view of Kim to be scheduled to refrain from transmitting during the first time slot by receiving a buffer status report from the Femto BS3 based on the teachings of Nagasaka who discloses scheduling downlink data transmissions of a radio unit based on a buffer status report received from the radio unit including refraining the radio unit from transmitting, because the motivation lies in Nagasaka that the scheduling is based on received buffer status reports which includes changing the data transmission ratio between LTE and WLAN transmission in accordance with the buffer size or state associated with each buffer for appropriately controlling the data transmission ratio and efficiently scheduling the appropriate amount of data required between WLAN and LTE based on the respective buffer sizes.
While Liu discloses the second radio unit is the Femto base station (BS) 3 (see Para [0215]), the combination of Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim does not disclose the second radio unit is a NR-U radio unit. However the claim feature would be rendered obvious in view of Noh et al. US (2023/0224891).
Noh discloses a femto base station (i.e., “second radio unit”) is a NR-U radio unit (see Para [0148] i.e., the pico/femto base station uses both the NR-L and the NR-U service to downlink transmission)
(Noh suggests the femto base station uses NR-U for downlink transmission to the UE for supporting new radio (NR) technology in the unlicensed band and NR-U can provide an NR service optimized for various needs or environments (see Para’s [0145-0146] & [0148])).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date for the second radio unit such as the Femto base station (BS) 3 as disclosed in Liu in view of Yamamoto, further in view of Almquist, further in view of Nagasaka, and further in view of Kim to be a NR-U radio unit based on the teachings of Noh who discloses a femto base station may be a NR-U radio unit for downlink transmission to a UE, because the motivation lies in Noh that the femto base station uses NR-U for downlink transmission to the UE for supporting new radio (NR) technology in the unlicensed band and NR-U can provide an NR service optimized for various needs or environments.
Conclusion
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/ADNAN BAIG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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