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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/17/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This action is responsive to an amendment filed on 02/17/2026. Claims 1, 8, 11-12 and 14 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant Arguments/Remarks, filed on 02/17/2026, with respect to the rejection of the pending claims under 35 U.S.C. §103 have been fully considered. Applicant argues that Park-Goto combination does not disclose or suggest to "perform the secure data communication with the external electronic device using the data path", as claimed. (Arg./Rem. Page 13).
However, in current rejection, Examiner relies on Qi to teach the amended limitation, therefore. applicant’s arguments are moot because the arguments do not apply to the reference being used in the current rejection. See the newly crafted rejection, infra.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-7, 12-16 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0035277 (Park et al.) in view of JP 2021064910 (Goto), and further in view of WO2019035859 (Qi et al.).
Regarding Claim 1, Park teaches an electronic device comprising: a communication circuit; a memory storing at least one instruction; and at least one processor operatively connected to the communication circuit and the memory, and configured to execute the at least one instruction ([Fig. 6, ¶ 0055], The device 100 includes a processor 110, a memory 120, and a transceiver 130. The memory 120 is coupled to the processor 110 and stores various instructions that are executed by the processor 110) to: perform, through the communication circuit, a service discovery operation based on first security information in a discovery window (DW) to discover an external electronic device ([¶¶ 0022-0023], An NAN device operating as a master role may transmit a synchronization beacon frame and a discovery beacon frame. A synchronization beacon frame is used to synchronize NAN devices in an NAN cluster. A discovery beacon frame is used for advertisement such that an NAN device not joining an NAN cluster discovers the cluster. A service discovery frame is used to exchange information on a service between NAN devices. [¶ 0027] Between discovery windows, one or more NAN devices may transmit a discovery beacon frame so that the NAN devices may discover an NAN cluster. [Fig. 3, ¶ 0033], A first NAN device 310 and a second NAN device 320 exchange a service discovery frame during a discovery window (DW) (S310 and S320). The service discovery frame includes information on at least one of the identifier (ID) of an NAN device, the service ID of the NAN device, and an association interval), set up, through the communication circuit, a schedule with the external electronic device ([¶ 0020] An NAN cluster may be a set of NAN devices that share a set of NAN parameters and synchronize to the same discovery window schedule. NAN devices participating in the same NAN cluster synchronize to a communal clock. [¶ 0033], The service discovery frame includes…an association interval. The association interval may include information on transmission time of an authentication request/response and/or an association request/response. [¶ 0050] A service discovery frame transmitted during a discovery window (DW) may include association interval information. The association interval may include information on the transmission time [i.e., schedule] of an authentication request/response and/or an association request/response), perform, in the schedule, an authentication operation with the external electronic device based on the first security information ([Fig. 3, steps S340-S350, ¶¶ 0035-0039], The first NAN device sends an authentication request to the second NAN device (S340)… when data transmission is triggered, a service discovery process may be performed. After the service discovery process succeeded, an authentication process may be initiated…. The second NAN device determines whether to approve authentication (S345)… When authentication is approved, the second NAN device sends an authentication response (S350)), receive, from the external electronic device in the schedule through the communication circuit, a first message requesting network configuration information related to configuration of the network, …transmit, to the external electronic device in the schedule through the communication circuit, a second message including network configuration information which includes … second security information used to set up a data path for performing secure data communication with the external electronic device, and discovery information used for a peer discovery operation ([Fig. 3, steps S360, S370, ¶¶ 0039-0042] When the authentication process is completed, an association process is triggered. The first NAN device sends an association request to the second NAN device (S360) . The association request may include at least one of the ID of the first NAN device, a service ID, and an application ID. The second NAN device compares previously received information with information included in the association request, and sends an association response if the pieces of information are matched (S370). For example, the second NAN device compares the ID of the NAN device and the service ID in the authentication request with the ID of the NAN device and the service ID in the association request, and may send an association response indicating that association is successful if the ID of the NAN device and the service ID in the authentication request respectively match the ID of the NAN device and the service ID in the association request. The service ID may be used to generate an encryption key during the authentication process, thereby providing security information for subsequent communication. [¶¶ 0050-0052] A service discovery frame transmitted during a discovery window (DW) may include association interval information. The association interval may include at least one of a bitmap field, a duration field, a frequency band field, and a channel number field. The bitmap field indicates the time at which a frame is transmitted. The duration field indicates the length of an interval in which the frame is transmitted in association with the bitmap field. The frequency band field indicates a frequency band in which the frame is transmitted. The channel number field indicates a channel through which the frame is transmitted in the frequency band).
Although, Park teaches an NAN device in an NAN cluster may operate as a master role or a non-master role. An NAN device operating as a master role may transmit a synchronization beacon frame and a discovery beacon frame. An NAN device operating as a non-master role in a synchronous state may not transmit a discovery beacon frame [¶ 0022], however, Park does not explicitly teach, but Goto teaches perform, …an authentication operation with the external electronic device…to determine a device role of the electronic device in a network including the electronic device and the external electronic device, receive, from the external electronic device…, a first message requesting network configuration information related to configuration of the network, based on the device role of the electronic device, and transmit, to the external electronic device, …a second message including network configuration information which includes a network role of the external electronic device in the network, second security information used to set up a data path for performing secure data communication with the external electronic device (emphasis added) ([Page 5, Para. 3-4] communication device 101 operates as a configurator and provides communication parameters to the communication device 102 that operate as enrollees. …When the communication device communication device 101 acquires QR code information including a public key (Bootstrapping Key) for authentication of the communication device 102 from the QR code. When the QR code captured by the communication device 101 includes, in addition to the public key, identification information of the communication device 102 and information indicating whether the communication device 102 is a configurator or an enroller [i.e., determine a device role]. Next, the communication device 101 transmits an authentication request to the communication device 102. The authentication request transmitted from the communication device 101 to the communication device 102 includes authentication information for use in authentication, identification information of the communication device 101, random numbers, role information, and a public key for generating a shared key. The role information is information indicating that the communication device 101 can operate in the configurator, the enrollee, or both. In the present embodiment, the communication device 101 includes information indicating that it can operate as a configurator as role information in the authentication request. [Page 6, Para. 1] The authentication response transmitted from the communication device 102 to the communication device 101 includes a public key for generating a shared key of the communication device 102, a random number, role information, and tag information. The role information is information indicating that the communication device 102 can operate in the configurator or the enroller. In the present embodiment, the communication device 102 includes information indicating that it can operate as an enroller as role information in the authentication response. [Page 7, Para. 3-4], the communication device 101 is certified as a configurator. When the communication device 102 succeeds in authentication, the communication device 102 transmits a setting request to the communication device 101. …the setting request includes device information and role information of the communication device 102. The device information is a device name of the communication device 102 or the like. Further, the role information is information indicating a role desired by the communication device 102 in a network in which the communication device 102 can participate according to the received communication parameters. …If it is determined that the authentication is successful, the communication device 102 certifies the communication device 101 that has transmitted the authentication request as a partner device that performs the communication parameter sharing process. the communication device 101is certified as a configurator. …When the communication device 101 receives the setting request from the communication device 102, the communication device 101 performs a communication parameter providing process. The communication device 101 transmits a setting response including communication parameters for joining the wireless network 104 to the communication device 102).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Goto's teaching of providing role information of the devices during authentication process and setting communication with the teachings of Park because such incorporation would have enhanced security through unique device identification, enabling tailored network policies, and streamlining configuration by pre-authorizing specific roles.
While, Park teaches authentication and association between devices and Goto teaches an authentication process in compliance with the Wi-Fi Device Provisioning Protocol (DPP) standard, performed using a public key to adding devices to a network, however, Park in view of Goto do not explicitly teach, Qi teaches set up a data path for performing secure data communication with the external electronic device, and perform the secure data communication with the external electronic device using the data path ([¶ 0011] The Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN) specification addresses privacy and security aspects of peer-to-peer communication by defining the means to establish a secure data path between peers. [¶¶ 0017-0020] a NAN device may advertise to nearby devices by publishing, broadcasting, or otherwise communicating information about a network. The NAN device may generate public/private key. The NAN device may generate a service discovery frame that includes information about the network. the public key may be included as a service attribute of the service discovery frame. A NAN device that wishes to establish a secure NAN data path (NDP) with the publishing NAN device that published the service discovery frame. The NAN device may compute its local public/private key pair. The NAN device may use its local public key and the public key received from the publishing NAN device to generate a shared secret and corresponding pairwise master key (PMK). …the shared secret and corresponding PMK may be computed based on the Diffie-Hellman scheme. The NAN device may include its public key in the NDP request together with the other NAN attributes. Upon receiving an NDP request with public key information from the NAN device, the publishing NAN device may use the public key to compute a shared secret and corresponding PMK based on the Diffie-Hellman scheme. Thus, the publishing NAN device and the NAN device may each have the shared secret and corresponding PMK without having to communicate them to each other. The NDP between the publishing NAN device and the NAN device may be established, for example, as defined in the NAN specification, using the derived PMK of each of the devices. Note: Since, Qi teaches establishing a NAN data path (NDP) between peer NAN devices for communication, therefore, it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the NDP is the communication channel that used for exchanging data between devices after service discovery. Qi further teaches deriving security key (e.g., PMK) and performing authentication procedure to secure the NAN data path. Therefore, Qi teaches performing secure data communication with the external electronic device using the established data path).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Qi's teaching of deriving a shared secret and pairwise master key using a Diffie-Hellman exchange in order to establish a secure NAN data path to the combined teachings of Park and Goto because such incorporation would have improved the security of peer-to-peer communications in a NAN network using known wireless security technique while maintaining compatibility with the existing NAN protocol framework.
Regarding Claim 2, Park teaches the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to: perform, in the schedule through the communication circuit, the peer discovery operation with the external electronic device based on the discovery information to verify the external electronic device ([¶ 0033] A first NAN device and a second NAN device exchange a service discovery frame during a discovery window (DW). [¶ 0035] The first NAN device sends an authentication request to the second NAN device. [¶ 0037] The second NAN device determines whether to approve authentication. [¶ 0039] When the authentication process is completed, an association process is triggered).
Regarding Claim 3, Park teaches the electronic device of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to: set up, in the schedule through the communication circuit ([Fig. 6], the transceiver 130 is coupled to the processor 110 and transmits and/or receives radio signals), the association with the external electronic device ([¶¶ 0039-0040] When the authentication process is completed, an association process is triggered. The first NAN device 310 sends an association request to the second NAN device 320. The second NAN device 320 compares previously received information with information included in the association request, and sends an association response if the pieces of information are matched and send an association response indicating that association is successful if the ID of the NAN device and the service ID in the authentication request respectively match the ID of the NAN device and the service ID in the association request. [¶ 0051], The association interval may include at least one of a bitmap field, a duration field, a frequency band field, and a channel number field. The frequency band field indicates a frequency band in which the frame is transmitted. The channel number field indicates a channel through which the frame is transmitted in the frequency band).
While, Park teaches authentication and association between devices, however, Park in view of Goto do not explicitly teach, Qi teaches set up, …the data path with the external electronic device ([¶ 0020] the publishing NAN device and the NAN device may each have the shared secret and corresponding PMK without having to communicate them to each other. The NDP between the publishing NAN device and the NAN device may be established, for example, as defined in the NAN specification, using the derived PMK of each of the devices. [Also see rejection of claim 1 above]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Qi's teaching of establish a secure NAN data path to the combined teachings of Park and Goto because such incorporation would have improved the security of peer-to-peer communications in a NAN network.
Regarding Claim 4, Park in view of Goto do not explicitly teach, however, Qi teaches the electronic device of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to: transmit, in the schedule through the communication circuit, a data path confirm message to the external electronic device ([¶ 0047, 0050] NAN device B send an NDP request message to NAN device A. Upon validation of the parameters of the NDP request, NAN device A send a response message, NAN device B may generate and send NDP confirmation message), receive, in the schedule through the communication circuit, a data path security install message including third security information, in response to the data path confirm message, and based on the second security information and the third security information matching, set up the data path with the external electronic device through the communication circuit ([¶ 0049-0050] Upon validation of the parameters of the NDP request, NAN device A may generate the shared secret using the public key associated with NAN device B. NAN device A then derive the PMK from the shared secret. …NAN device A initiate the establishment of the NDP between NAN device A and NAN device B. if the service discovery frame from NAN device A includes a PMKTD that matches a PMKSA known to NAN device B, the corresponding PMK may be used and the SA NDP establishment may continue as defined in the NAN specification. [¶ 0061], NAN device A may initiate a 4-way handshake with NAN device B using the PMK generated. The 4-way handshake may generate a Key-Encrypting Key (KEK), a Key-Confirmation Key (KCK), and a message integrity code (MIC) to use for protection of the frames that define the 4-way handshake).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Qi's teaching of secure NAN data path establishment technique in order to establish a secure NAN data path to the combined teachings of Park and Goto because such incorporation would have improved the security of peer-to-peer communications over a NAN data path by using known cryptographic key establishment technique.
Regarding Claim 5, Park teaches the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to: transmit, to the external electronic device in the schedule through the communication circuit, an authentication request message including the first security information ([¶ 0035] The first NAN device sends an authentication request to the second NAN device. The authentication request may include at least one of the ID of the first NAN device, a service ID, and an application ID), receive, from the external electronic device in the schedule through the communication circuit, an authentication response message including a first status information indicating a status related to the authentication request message, the first security information ([¶ 0038] When authentication is approved, the second NAN device sends an authentication response. The authentication response may include at least one of the ID of the second NAN device, the ID of a received service, and the ID of a received application), and transmit, to the external electronic device in the schedule through the communication circuit, an authentication confirm message including second status information indicating a status related to the authentication response message, the first security information ([¶ 0039] When the authentication process is completed, an association process is triggered. The first NAN device 310 sends an association request to the second NAN device 320. The association request may include at least one of the ID of the first NAN device, a service ID, and an application ID).
Although, Park teaches an NAN device in an NAN cluster may operate as a master role or a non-master role. An NAN device operating as a master role may transmit a synchronization beacon frame and a discovery beacon frame. An NAN device operating as a non-master role in a synchronous state may not transmit a discovery beacon frame [¶ 0022], however, Park in view of Qi do not explicitly teach, but Goto teaches transmit, to the external electronic device an authentication request message including… first device role information indicating an intended device role of the electronic device ([Page 5, Para. 4] the communication device 101 transmits an authentication request to the communication device 102. The authentication request transmitted from the communication device 101 to the communication device 102 includes authentication information for use in authentication, identification information of the communication device 101, random numbers, role information, and a public key for generating a shared key. the communication device 101 includes information indicating that it can operate as a configurator [i.e., indicating an intended device role] as role information in the authentication request), receive, from the external electronic device an authentication response message including… second device role information indicating an intended device role of the external electronic device ([Page 5, last para – Page 6, first para] When the communication device 102 determines that the authentication is successful, the communication device 102 transmits an authentication response to the communication device 101 as a response to the authentication request. …The authentication response transmitted from the communication device 102 to the communication device 101 includes a public key for generating a shared key of the communication device 102, a random number, role information, and tag information. The role information includes information indicating that it can operate as an enroller as role information in the authentication response), and transmit, to the external electronic device… an authentication confirm message including… third device role information indicating the device role of the electronic device, to determine the device role of the electronic device ([Page 6, last para and Page 7, Para 3-4], when it is determined that the authentication is successful, the communication device 101 transmits an authentication confirmation to the communication device 102… When the communication device 102 receives the authentication confirmation from the communication device 101, the communication device 102 executes the authentication process of the communication device 101. … If it is determined that the authentication is successful, the communication device 102 certifies the communication device 101 that has transmitted the authentication request as a partner device that performs the communication parameter sharing process. In this embodiment, the communication device 101 is certified as a configurator. When the communication device 102 succeeds in authentication, the communication device 102 transmits a setting request to the communication device 101. The setting request includes device information and role information of the communication device 102. the role information is information indicating a role desired by the communication device 102 in a network in which the communication device 102 can participate according to the received communication parameters).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Goto's teaching of providing role information of the device during authenticate device with the combined teachings of Park and Qi because such incorporation would have enhanced security through unique device identification, enabling tailored network policies, and streamlining configuration by pre-authorizing specific roles.
Regarding Claim 6, Park in view of Goto do not explicitly teach, however, Qi teaches the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to: receive, through the communication circuit, a publish message from the external electronic device in the DW, and based on the publish message including authentication information identical to a first authentication information, discover the external electronic device ([¶ 0046-0047] NAN device A that wishes to publish a service that requires security generates a public and private key pair. NAN device A may generate a service discovery frame and includes a NAN OWE attribute, providing information associated with the desired group and the public key generated. NAN device A may publish, broadcast, advertise, or otherwise communicate the service discovery frame to one or more user devices. NAN device B may receive the service discovery frame from NAN device A. NAN device B may determine to establish a secure association (SA) NDP with a peer NAN device A. NAN device B may generate it public and private key pair. NAN device B may compute a shared secret and derive a PMK. NAN device B may generate and send an NDP request which includes a NAN OWE attribute, including the public key generated, and the corresponding NAN security attributes).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Qi's publish-discovery technique to establish a secure NAN data path with the combined teachings of Park and Goto, because such incorporation would have been a predictable variation of asynchronous, event-driven communication.
Regarding Claim 7, while, park teaches an NAN device in an NAN cluster may operate as a master role or a non-master role. An NAN device operating as a master role may transmit a synchronization beacon frame and a discovery beacon frame. An NAN device operating as a non-master role in a synchronous state may not transmit a discovery beacon frame [¶ 0022], however, Park in view of Qi do not explicitly teach, but, Goto teaches the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the device role of the electronic device is a configurator providing the network configuration information, wherein the device role of the external electronic device is an enrollee which is enrolled in the network managed by the configurator, wherein the network role of the electronic device is a data path initiator requesting setup of the data path, and wherein the network role of the external electronic device is a data path responder responding to a request for the setup of the data path ([Page 5, para. 4], the communication device 101 includes information indicating that it can operate as a configurator as role information in the authentication request. [Page 6, Para. 1] the communication device 102 includes information indicating that it can operate as an enroller as role information in the authentication response. [Page 7, para. 3, 6], When the communication device 102 succeeds in authentication, the communication device 102 transmits a setting request to the communication device 101. … When the communication device 101 receives the setting request from the communication device 102 (Yes in S308), the communication device 101 performs a communication parameter providing process).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Goto's teaching of determining role information of the devices during authenticate device with the combined teachings of Park and Qi because such incorporation would have ensured responsibilities of the different devices during authentication and communication.
Regarding Claim 12, The claim limitations are identical and/or equivalent in scope to claim 1, therefore, rejected under the same rationale as claim 1.
Regarding Claims 13, 14 and 15, the claim limitations are identical and/or equivalent in scope to claims 2, 5 and 6, respectively, and therefore, rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 16, Park teaches the method of claim 12, wherein the performing the service discovery operation based on the first security information through the DW comprises: transmitting, to the external electronic device, at least one of a synchronization beacon frame and a service discovery frame in the DW ([¶ 0022] An NAN device operating as a master role may transmit a synchronization beacon frame and a discovery beacon frame. [¶ 0026] During a discovery window, one or more NAN devices may transmit a synchronization beacon frame so that all NAN devices in an NAN cluster may be synchronized).
Regarding Claim 18, Park in view of Qi do not explicitly teach, however, Goto teaches the method of claim 14, wherein the intended device role of the electronic device is one of a configurator and an enrollee, and the intended device role of the external electronic device is one of the configurator and the enrollee ([Page 4, Para. 10], communication device 101 operates as a configurator and provides communication parameters to the communication device 102 and the access point 103 that operate as enrollees. [Page 5, ], The role information is information indicating that the communication device 101 can operate in the configurator, the enrollee, or both. [Page 6, Para. 1] The role information is information indicating that the communication device 102 can operate in the configurator or the enroller).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Goto's teaching of determining role information of the devices during authenticate device with the teachings of Park because such incorporation would have ensured responsibilities of the different devices during authentication and communication.
Regarding Claim 19, Park teaches the method of claim 12, wherein the setting up the schedule with the external electronic device comprises: setting up a neighbor awareness networking (NAN) based schedule with the external electronic device ([¶ 0016] A neighbor awareness network (NAN) is a specification established by the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) based on the Wi-Fi standard. An NAN device is a device that supports the NAN specification. [Fig. 1, ¶ 0020] An NAN cluster may be a set of NAN devices that share a set of NAN parameters and synchronize to the same discovery window schedule).
Claims 8-11 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park in view of Goto and Qi, and further in view of US 20170311341 (Patil et al.).
Regarding Claim 8, The claim limitations are identical and/or equivalent in scope to claim 1, therefore, rejected under the same rationale as claim 1, however, Park in view of Goto do not explicitly teach set up, through the communication circuit, a first multicast schedule with the first external electronic device. (emphasis added), Patil teaches set up, through the communication circuit, a first multicast schedule with the first external electronic device ([¶ 0077] Referring to FIG. 2A, the STAs 204, 206, 208, 210 may join a service provided by the STA 202. The STA 202 may initiate the service by determining the many-to-many multicast schedule for an NDL associated with the service. The STA 202 may determine the many-to-many multicast schedule based on an availability of the STA 202, the requirements of the service (e.g., quality of service requirements associated with the service), and/or preconfigured information related to the service (e.g., default scheduling requirements associated with services within a NAN network). After determining the schedule, the STA 202 may broadcast the many-to-many multicast schedule to other devices in a frame).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Patil's publish many-to-many multicast schedule with the combined teachings of Park-Goto-Qi, because such incorporation would have advantageously facilitated user mobility and rapid field deployment (Patil, ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claims 9 and 10, the claim limitations are identical and/or equivalent in scope to claims 2 and 3, respectively, and therefore, rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 11, the claim limitations are identical and/or equivalent in scope to claim 8, therefore, rejected under the same rationale as claim 1. However, Park in view of Goto and Patil do not explicitly teach, however, Qi teaches discover a second external electronic device and set up a second data path with second external electronic device ([¶ 0046-0050] as aforementioned in Claim 1, Qi teaches discover NAN device and set up data path with the Nan device. Qi teaches NAN device A may publish, broadcast, advertise, or otherwise communicate the service discovery frame to one or more user devices, Since, Qi’s discovery mechanism allows discovery of multiple peer devices, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that the same procedure could be repeated to establish additional data path with additional peer devices).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Qi's teaching of discover and establish a secure NAN data path to one or more user devices to the combined teachings of Park-Goto-Patil because such incorporation would have improved the security of peer-to-peer communications in a NAN network using known wireless security technique while maintaining compatibility with the existing NAN protocol framework.
Regarding Claim 20, Park in view of Goto and Qi do not explicitly teach, however, Patil teaches the method of claim 12, wherein the setting up the schedule with the external electronic device comprises: setting up a first multicast schedule with a first external electronic device ([¶ 0077] Referring to FIG. 2A, the STAs 204, 206, 208, 210 may join a service provided by the STA 202. The STA 202 may initiate the service by determining the many-to-many multicast schedule for an NDL associated with the service. The STA 202 may determine the many-to-many multicast schedule based on an availability of the STA 202, the requirements of the service (e.g., quality of service requirements associated with the service), and/or preconfigured information related to the service (e.g., default scheduling requirements associated with services within a NAN network). After determining the schedule, the STA 202 may broadcast the many-to-many multicast schedule to other devices in a frame); and setting up a second multicast schedule with a second external electronic device ([¶¶ 0078-0079], Referring to FIG. 3, during the second sample epoch 308, the STAs 204, 206, 208, 210 may sample the quality of the NDL based on the current many-to-many multicast schedule. Based on the sampling, the STAs 204, 206, 208, 210 may determine whether to determine a different many-to-many multicast schedule and transmit the schedule during the second schedule update announcement period 340 following the second sample epoch 308. In the second NAN DW 316, the STAs may converge to an advertised schedule over time. As shown in the second NAN DW 316, some of the STAs converged to a schedule previously advertised in the first NAN DW 314, and two STAs continue to announce their respective proposed schedules (e.g., the STAs 204, 206). In the third NAN DW 318, all STAs have converged onto a single many-to-many multicast schedule. The schedule that the other STAs have selected may be rebroadcasted by the STAs that have selected the schedule. [¶ 0130], the scheduling component 724 may be further configured to determine whether to change the many-to-many multicast schedule to a second many-to-many multicast schedule and to transmit the second many-to-many multicast schedule and a time at which the second many-to-many multicast schedule will become active).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Patil's publish many-to-many multicast schedule with the combined teachings of Park-Goto-Qi, because such incorporation would have advantageously facilitated user mobility and rapid field deployment (Patil, ¶ 0004).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park in view of Goto and Qi, and further in view of US 2019/0199815 (Park et al., hereinafter, “Park’815”).
Regarding Claim 17, while, Goto teaches when the communication device 101 receives the authentication response, if the role information of the communication device 102 included in the authentication response is the same as the role information of its own device …the communication device 101 may transmit an authentication confirmation including information indicating an error to the communication device 102 [Page 6, para. 1], however, Park in view of Goto and Qi do not explicitly teach, however, Park’815 teaches the method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting the authentication confirm message including the second status information indicating the status related to the authentication response message, the first security information, and the third device role information indicating the device role of the electronic device in the schedule comprises: based on a determination that the intended device role of the electronic device and the intended device role of the external electronic device are the same role, determining the third device role information indicating the device role of the electronic device based on a larger of a role intent value associated with each of the intended device role of the electronic device and the intended device role of the external electronic device ([¶ 0080], a NAN device can serve as a NAN master and the NAN master can be changed. In other words, roles and states of the NAN device can be shifted in various ways. …The state of the NAN device can be determined according to a master rank (MR). The master rank indicates the preference of the NAN device to serve as the NAN master. In particular, a high master rank means strong preference for the NAN master. [¶ 0082], The master indication attributes may be set as illustrated in Table 2. the attribute Master Preference that is used to indicate a NAN Device's preference to serve as the role of Master, with a larger value indicating a higher preference. [¶¶ 0084-0085], The NAN device should set a Master Preference field value in the master indication attribute to a value greater than 0 and a Random Factor value in the master indication attribute to a new value…a NAN device can become an anchor master of a NAN cluster depending on an MR value. That is, all NAN devices have capabilities of operating as the anchor master. The anchor master means the device that has a highest MR).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Park’815's teaching of determining preference role of the master device based on the master rank (MR) value with the combined teachings of Park-Goto-Qi, because such incorporation would have allow efficiently coordinating communication within a NAN devices.
Conclusion
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/MOHAMMAD YOUSUF A. MIAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2457
/ARIO ETIENNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2457