DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This action is in response to the application filed on 08 June 2023.
Claims 1-20 are under examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted 31 August 2023. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness
Claims 1-8, 11, 12, and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Krishnaswamy et al. (US Publication 2013/0077501) in view of Cullerot et al. (US Publication 2020/0029382).
With respect to claims 1 and 15, Krishnaswamy teaches An apparatus for optimizing communication in a hybrid communication network including heterogenous networks, (the multipath manager 420 includes functional components including a path management function, a packet scheduling function, a subflow interface, and congestion control, paragraph 55) the apparatus comprising:
an input port configured to receive inputs from an external device; (a plurality of interface layers 412 corresponding to the number of WWAN access points 306, 308, and 310, paragraph 52)
a memory configured to store data and information; (an apparatus for wireless communication over a multipath TCP connection includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, paragraph 20)
a main processor configured to control overall operations; (an apparatus for wireless communication over a multipath TCP connection includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, paragraph 20)
a communication circuit including (the multipath manager 420 may receive a health metric corresponding to a quality of a first wireless link. Here, the health metric may additionally include information relating to the quality of any number of wireless links, such as those utilized by the WWAN interface 408a or 408b; the WPAN wireless link utilized by the WPAN interface 410; or the WWAN interface utilized by the proxy 312. In any case, the health metric may provide various information including link-layer performance characteristics of the respective wireless link, paragraph 67) where the service requirement information is information on service requirements related to the service server ( the health metric may indicate the modulation, the coding scheme, the physical layer throughput of the link, a packet error rate, a bit error rate, or any other suitable MAC or link layer performance metrics, paragraph 67) and
a sub-flow control processor configured to control (adjusting) a number of sub-flows of the hybrid communication network based on the service requirement information and service performance information, (The multipath manager 420 may determine an amount of the TCP flow to allocate to each of a plurality of subflows in accordance with the received health metric. In block 606, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a first portion of the TCP flow to a first subflow on a first path that includes the first wireless link, and in block 608, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a second portion of the TCP flow to a second subflow on a second path. Thus, the process 600 may provide for adaptation of the allocation of data among the subflows based on the health metric, paragraph 73) where the service performance information includes a current network speed and a current latency in communication between the service server and the UE. (When predicting such trends in the health metric, the multipath manager 420 may utilize a predicted version of the health metric for a particular path until such time as a new update arrives, at which time the new health metric may be utilized, paragraph 70)
Krishnaswamy doesn’t teach a hybrid communication network including a satellite network and a cellular network and the service requirement information includes a guaranteed network speed and an allowed latency.
Cullerot teaches a hybrid communication network including a satellite network and a cellular network. (Multi-backhaul as well as multiple paths would be supported (fiber, satellite, 3G, 4G, 5G), Paragraph 50) and
the service requirement information includes a guaranteed network speed and an allowed latency. (the MPTCP proxy may be aware of the different network capabilities/speeds/performance guarantees available to different flows, and may perform routing to subflows that are appropriate for the application (for example, low-latency applications may be directed to low-latency subflows), paragraph 48)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Krishnaswamy with a hybrid communication network including a satellite network and a cellular network as taught by Cullerot. The motivation for combining Krishnaswamy and Cullerot is to be able to improve throughput in hybrid network.
With respect to claims 2 and 16, Krishnaswamy teaches wherein the controlling a number of sub-flows comprises: controlling a number of sub-flows in a (The multipath manager 420 may determine an amount of the TCP flow to allocate to each of a plurality of subflows in accordance with the received health metric. In block 606, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a first portion of the TCP flow to a first subflow on a first path that includes the first wireless link, and in block 608, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a second portion of the TCP flow to a second subflow on a second path. Thus, the process 600 may provide for adaptation of the allocation of data among the subflows based on the health metric, paragraph 73)
Krishnaswamy doesn’t teach a satellite network included in the hybrid communication network
Cullerot teaches a satellite network included in the hybrid communication network (Multi-backhaul as well as multiple paths would be supported (fiber, satellite, 3G, 4G, 5G), Paragraph 50) and
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Krishnaswamy with a hybrid communication network including a satellite network and a cellular network as taught by Cullerot. The motivation for combining Krishnaswamy and Cullerot is to be able to improve throughput in hybrid network.
With respect to claims 3 and 17, Krishnaswamy teaches wherein the controlling a number of sub-flows in a satellite network comprises: determining whether to change the number of sub-flows in the satellite network using service performance information collected in a previous cycle and service performance information collected in a current cycle. (When predicting such trends in the health metric, the multipath manager 420 may utilize a predicted version of the health metric for a particular path until such time as a new update arrives, at which time the new health metric may be utilized, paragraph 70)
With respect to claims 4 and 18, Krishnaswamy teaches wherein the determining whether to change the number of sub-flows comprises: determining to change the number of sub-flows in the satellite network in an event that the number of sub-flows in the satellite network was not changed in the previous cycle. (When predicting such trends in the health metric, the multipath manager 420 may utilize a predicted version of the health metric for a particular path until such time as a new update arrives, at which time the new health metric may be utilized, paragraph 70)
With respect to claims 5 and 19, Krishnaswamy teaches wherein the determining whether to change the number of sub-flows comprises: determining to change the number of sub-flows in the satellite network in an event that performance variation between the service performance information collected in the previous cycle and the service performance information collected in the current cycle is greater than a predetermined threshold value. (When predicting such trends in the health metric, the multipath manager 420 may utilize a predicted version of the health metric for a particular path until such time as a new update arrives, at which time the new health metric may be utilized, paragraph 70)
With respect to claims 6 and 20, Krishnaswamy teaches wherein the controlling a number of sub-flows in a satellite network comprises: determining to decide increasing the number of sub-flows in the satellite network in an event that the current network speed is slower than the guaranteed network speed and the current latency is shorter than or equal to the allowed latency. (a first subflow corresponds to a subflow for which at least a portion of a TCP flow has been allocated, and a packet has been transmitted over a first subflow that utilizes a first path. In accordance with the process 650, in block 610, the multipath manager 420 may detect a loss of a packet transmitted over the first subflow. Here, any suitable process for determining a packet loss may be utilized, for example, by detecting multiple duplicate acknowledgments that acknowledge the same sequence numbers. Such a stall or packet loss may result for any number of reasons, such as the client device 304 entering an area with a poor WWAN signal, due to a deep fade, interference, etc. In block 612, the multipath manager 420 may receive a health metric indicating that a second path has a higher quality than the first path. The quality of the path can correspond to any one or any combination of the parameters discussed above that may be provided on the health metric, including but not limited to the wireless link conditions, the SmRTT, the CW, etc, paragraph 79)
With respect to claim 7, Krishnaswamy teaches wherein the controlling a number of sub-flows in a satellite network comprises: determining an increment value for the number of sub-flows in the satellite network using the current network speed and the current latency. (the multipath manager 420 may determine an amount of the TCP flow to allocate to each of a plurality of subflows in accordance with the received health metric, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a first portion of the TCP flow to a first subflow on a first path that includes the first wireless link, and in block 608, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a second portion of the TCP flow to a second subflow on a second path. Thus, the process 600 may provide for adaptation of the allocation of data among the subflows based on the health metric, paragraph 73. Examiner note: amount = increment value)
With respect to claim 8, Krishnaswamy teaches wherein the increment value is determined to be higher as the current network speed decreases and as the current latency decreases. (the multipath manager 420 may determine an amount of the TCP flow to allocate to each of a plurality of subflows in accordance with the received health metric, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a first portion of the TCP flow to a first subflow on a first path that includes the first wireless link, and in block 608, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a second portion of the TCP flow to a second subflow on a second path. Thus, the process 600 may provide for adaptation of the allocation of data among the subflows based on the health metric, paragraph 73. Examiner note: amount if subflow is increased when the metric is poor)
With respect to claim 11, Krishnaswamy teaches wherein the controlling a number of sub-flows in a satellite network comprises: determining to decrease the number of sub-flows in the satellite network in an event that the current latency is slower than the allowed latency, and the current network speed is faster than the guaranteed network speed. (the multipath manager 420 may determine an amount of the TCP flow to allocate to each of a plurality of subflows in accordance with the received health metric, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a first portion of the TCP flow to a first subflow on a first path that includes the first wireless link, and in block 608, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a second portion of the TCP flow to a second subflow on a second path. Thus, the process 600 may provide for adaptation of the allocation of data among the subflows based on the health metric, paragraph 73. Examiner note: amount if subflow is increased when the metric is poor)
With respect to claim 12, Krishnaswamy teaches wherein the controlling a number of sub-flows in a satellite network comprises: determining not to decrease the number of sub-flows in the satellite network in an event that the current latency is shorter than the allowed latency and the current network speed is slower than the guaranteed network speed. (the multipath manager 420 may determine an amount of the TCP flow to allocate to each of a plurality of subflows in accordance with the received health metric, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a first portion of the TCP flow to a first subflow on a first path that includes the first wireless link, and in block 608, the multipath manager 420 may allocate a second portion of the TCP flow to a second subflow on a second path. Thus, the process 600 may provide for adaptation of the allocation of data among the subflows based on the health metric, paragraph 73. Examiner note: amount if subflow is increased when the metric is poor)
Claims 9, 10, 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Krishnaswamy et al. (US Publication 2013/0077501) in view of Cullerot et al. (US Publication 2020/0029382) further in view of Zhang et al. (US Publication 2023/0217310).
With respect to claim 9, Krishnaswamy in view of Cullerot doesn’t teach wherein the determining an increment value comprises: using an occupancy rate of the cellular network in communication between the service server and the UE with the current network speed and the current latency.
Zhang teaches wherein the determining an increment value comprises: using an occupancy rate of the cellular network in communication between the service server and the UE with the current network speed and the current latency. (monitoring a throughput, a degree of quality of service satisfaction, a channel quality, an occupancy of a physical downlink control channel, interference measurements, a handover procedure, or a combination thereof associated with the cellular network, paragraph 22)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Krishnaswamy and Cullerot with using an occupancy rate of the cellular network in communication between the service server and the UE with the current network speed and the current latency as taught by Zhang. The motivation for combining Krishnaswamy, Cullerot, and Zhang is to be able to improve utilization of a dual networking mode.
With respect to claim 10, Krishnaswamy in view of Cullerot doesn’t teach wherein the increment value is determined to be higher as the occupancy rate of the cellular network increases.
Zhang teaches wherein the increment value is determined to be higher as the occupancy rate of the cellular network increases. (monitoring a throughput, a degree of quality of service satisfaction, a channel quality, an occupancy of a physical downlink control channel, interference measurements, a handover procedure, or a combination thereof associated with the cellular network, paragraph 22)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Krishnaswamy and Cullerot with using an occupancy rate of the cellular network in communication between the service server and the UE with the current network speed and the current latency as taught by Zhang. The motivation for combining Krishnaswamy, Cullerot, and Zhang is to be able to improve utilization of a dual networking mode.
With respect to claim 13, Krishnaswamy in view of Cullerot doesn’t teach wherein the controlling a number of sub-flows in a satellite network comprises: determining whether to decrease the number of sub-flows in the satellite network using the occupancy rate of the cellular network in communication between the service server and the UE in an even that the current latency is shorter than the guaranteed latency and the current network speed is faster than the guaranteed network speed.
Zhang teaches wherein the controlling a number of sub-flows in a satellite network comprises: determining whether to decrease the number of sub-flows in the satellite network using the occupancy rate of the cellular network in communication between the service server and the UE in an even that the current latency is shorter than the guaranteed latency and the current network speed is faster than the guaranteed network speed. (monitoring a throughput, a degree of quality of service satisfaction, a channel quality, an occupancy of a physical downlink control channel, interference measurements, a handover procedure, or a combination thereof associated with the cellular network, paragraph 22)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Krishnaswamy and Cullerot with using an occupancy rate of the cellular network in communication between the service server and the UE with the current network speed and the current latency as taught by Zhang. The motivation for combining Krishnaswamy, Cullerot, and Zhang is to be able to improve utilization of a dual networking mode.
With respect to claim 14, Krishnaswamy in view of Cullerot doesn’t teach wherein the determining whether to decrease the number of sub-flows in the satellite network using the occupancy rate of the cellular network comprises: determining to decrease the number of sub-flows in the satellite network in an event that the occupancy rate of the cellular network is greater than a predetermined threshold value.
Zhang teaches wherein the determining whether to decrease the number of sub-flows in the satellite network using the occupancy rate of the cellular network comprises: determining to decrease the number of sub-flows in the satellite network in an event that the occupancy rate of the cellular network is greater than a predetermined threshold value. (monitoring a throughput, a degree of quality of service satisfaction, a channel quality, an occupancy of a physical downlink control channel, interference measurements, a handover procedure, or a combination thereof associated with the cellular network, paragraph 22)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Krishnaswamy and Cullerot with using an occupancy rate of the cellular network in communication between the service server and the UE with the current network speed and the current latency as taught by Zhang. The motivation for combining Krishnaswamy, Cullerot, and Zhang is to be able to improve utilization of a dual networking mode.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kanagarathinam et al. (US Publication 2017/0339257) discloses monitoring one or more factors associated with the MPTCP implemented in the client device. Further, based on the one or more factors that are monitored, the method includes determining whether to enable the MPTCP in the electronic device for a current data transport. Thereafter, the method includes determining a mode, among a plurality of modes provided for the MPTCP, to control a plurality of subflows of the MPTCP when the MPTCP is enabled for the current data transport. The method further includes dynamically switching the mode of the MPTCP during the current data transport based on the one or more factors being monitored during the current data transport.
Dion et al. (US Publication 2020/0245162) discloses supporting network path reliability may be configured to support network path reliability for a set of network paths associated to form a single logical connection for an end user based on use of hybrid access technology and multipath technology. In at least some example embodiments, support for network path reliability may include supporting one or more network path testing types (e.g., network path reachability testing, network path performance testing, or the like, as well as various combinations thereof) in hybrid access based on multipath technology.
Any inquiry concerning this communication from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAHI AHMED whose telephone number is (571) 270-3652. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khalid Kassim can be reached on 571-270-3370. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDULLAHI AHMED/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475