/JAE Y LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2479 DETAILED ACTION/JAE Y LEE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2479
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-6 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Regarding claim 1, the examiner agrees that Gauvreau does not disclose the entirety of the claim. However, the secondary reference Patil does through the anchor link, auxiliary link, and FILS mini beacons. Further it is obvious to see that the auxiliary link is capable of switching between regular and the FILS beacons while the anchor provides the management. While it is inherent in Patil, the newly added reference Yoon discloses beacon periodically switching.
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 1-2 and 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gauvreau et al. (US 20190182759 A1, hereinafter Gauvreau) in view of Patil et al. (US 20180206143 A1, hereinafter Patil) in further view of Yoon (US 20160056662 A1, hereinafter Yoon).
Regarding claim 1 Gauvreau discloses:
a first wireless signal processing circuit configured to be able to transmit and receive a wireless signal using a first channel; (Paragraph [0053], “Hereinafter, the terminology “device” includes a WTRU and a base station (such as an AP or a Node-B)… It may be noted that FIG. 3 shows the case of devices which may support transmission and reception on four channels…” The device base station must have multiple wireless signal processing circuit to support transmission/reception on multiple channels)
a second wireless signal processing circuit configured to be able to transmit and receive a wireless signal using a second channel which is different from the first channel; (Paragraph [0053], “Hereinafter, the terminology “device” includes a WTRU and a base station (such as an AP or a Node-B)… It may be noted that FIG. 3 shows the case of devices which may support transmission and reception on four channels…” The device base station must have multiple wireless signal processing circuit to support transmission/reception on multiple channels.)
and a processor configured to perform beacon selection processing for each of the first channel and the second channel and to perform beacon selection processing for each period, in order to: (Paragraph [0119], “A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.”)
manage transmission of a beacon of the first wireless signal processing circuit so that a first beacon is periodically transmitted from the first wireless signal processing circuit, (Paragraph [0063], “the complete beacon may be repeated on all or predetermine number of channels instead of segmenting it; Paragraph [0065]: The discovery beacon frame may be part of the periodic regular beacon frame, or part of a different management frame or a new special management frame. In the latter case, the discovery beacon frame may include a subset of the content included in the regular beacon.” The complete beacon or regular beacon (i.e., first beacon) can be periodically transmitted on certain channels (from the first or second or whichever wireless signal processing circuit).)
and manage transmission of a beacon of the second wireless signal processing circuit so that the first beacon and a second beacon, are periodically switched and transmitted from the second wireless signal processing circuit, the second beacon including information simplified than information included in the first beacon, (Paragraph [0064], “the beacon device may transmit a discovery beacon, in addition to the regular beacon; Paragraph [0065]: The discovery beacon frame may be part of the periodic regular beacon frame, or part of a different management frame or a new special management frame. In the latter case, the discovery beacon frame may include a subset of the content included in the regular beacon”; discover beacon is equated to the second beacon)
Gauvreau does not disclose:
and a processor configured to perform beacon selection processing for each of the first channel and the second channel and to perform beacon selection processing for each period, in order to:
and manage transmission of a beacon of the second wireless signal processing circuit so that the first beacon and a second beacon, are periodically switched and transmitted from the second wireless signal processing circuit, the second beacon including information simplified than information included in the first beacon,
Patil discloses:
and a processor configured to perform beacon selection processing for each of the first channel and the second channel and to perform beacon selection processing for each period, in order to: (Paragraph [0055], “In some cases, an AP 105 may designate a given channel in a given band as an anchor link…” and paragraph [0056], “the anchor link could additionally or alternatively be time-based (e.g., an AP 105 may transmit its beacon during a certain time interval on one or more links). For example, the AP 105 may designate a time period for transmission of control information over one or more links and may employ various techniques to provide improved reliability to the control information in the time interval…” and paragraph [0057], “Thus, in systems in which a 60 GHz link (e.g., or 5 GHz link, etc.) serves as an auxiliary link to an anchor link in a lower RF band (e.g., which may provide more reliable communications), the 60 GHz link may provide higher throughput…” and paragraph [0067], “link 205-a may be designated as an anchor link… In aspects, beacons on other links (e.g., link 205-b) may be mini-beacons, such as a fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frame or a measurement pilot frame. Such mini-beacons may indicate the presence of the anchor link.” During certain time interval the SP selects a beacon to transmit. And as disclosed by 0067 the secondary link are selected to be mini beacons different from the first regular beacon.)
and manage transmission of a beacon of the second wireless signal processing circuit so that the first beacon and a second beacon the second beacon including information simplified with respect to information included in the first beacon. (Paragraph [0055], “In some cases, an AP 105 may designate a given channel in a given band as an anchor link…” and paragraph [0057], “Thus, in systems in which a 60 GHz link (e.g., or 5 GHz link, etc.) serves as an auxiliary link to an anchor link in a lower RF band (e.g., which may provide more reliable communications), the 60 GHz link may provide higher throughput (e.g., under certain communication conditions) while the anchor link provides a stable link for discovery, link setup, exchange of control and management information, exchange of data traffic” and paragraph [0067], “In aspects, beacons on other links (e.g., link 205-b) may be mini-beacons, such as a fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frame or a measurement pilot frame. Such mini-beacons may indicate the presence of the anchor link.” As an anchor link the first channel carries the first beacon with the main information. As an auxiliary link the second channel carries FILS discovery frame, however, in the art it is know that the auxiliary can also carry the regular beacon and switch between the two.)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the cluster system of Gauvreau with Patil’s anchor link for multi-link beacon aggregation. One would have been motivated to do this to increase the reliability and robustness of the system in case of a transmission failure.
Gauvreau and Patil does not full disclose:
The beacons are periodically switched and transmitted from the second wireless signal processing circuit
Yoon discloses:
The beacons are periodically switched and transmitted from the second wireless signal processing circuit (Paragraph [0035], “repeatedly output a short-beacon s and a long-beacon l in the scan operation. The short-beacon s may be a pulse having a short length and the long-beacon l may be a pulse having a long length. Further, in the wireless charging apparatus 100, the short-beacon s is repeated in plural and then one long-beacon l may be generated. Here, the short-beacon s and the long-beacon l periodically appear…” Patil already discloses the auxiliary link, anchor link being used for discovery and link manage as well as mini beacons it is obvious to see that the auxiliary link is capable of switching between regular and the FILS beacons while the anchor provides the management. While it is inherent in Patil, Yoon discloses beacon periodically switching.)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combined teachings of Gauvreau and Patil in view of Yoon to incorporate periodic beacon switching for multi-link. One would have been motivated to do this to reduce the need/overhead of sending full beacons.
Regarding claim 2 Gauvreau discloses:
The base station according to claim 1, wherein the processor further manages transmission of a beacon of the first wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit so that the first beacon and the second beacon are periodically transmitted from the first wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit, (Paragraph [0066], “the beacon device may transmit the discovery beacon and the regular beacon simultaneously using multiple transmitters, (i.e., the discovery beacon is transmitted using a dedicated transmitter). Alternatively, the beacon device may transmit the discovery beacon and the regular beacon simultaneously using multiple radios, (i.e. using a dedicated transmitter/receiver on a channel dedicated for sending the discovery beacon).” And Paragraph [0063], “the complete beacon may be repeated on all or predetermine number of channels instead of segmenting it. This may be useful for the devices which can receive on one channel.” The discovery beacon may be transmitted in addition to this beacon periodically and may happen from any wireless signal processing circuit.)
Gauvreau does not disclose:
and a transmission frequency of the first beacon transmitted from the first wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit is higher than a transmission frequency of the first beacon transmitted from the second wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit.
Patil discloses:
and a transmission frequency of the first beacon transmitted from the first wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit is higher than a transmission frequency of the first beacon transmitted from the second wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit. (Paragraph [0053], “two communication links 120, but not the third, may support operation over the same RF band (e.g., two links in the 5 GHz RF band, and one link in the 2.4 GHz RF band).” The first two communication links are operating in a higher frequency band than the last.)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Gauvreau in view of Patil to incorporate different frequency operation. One would have been motivated to do this for client compatibility and coverage.
Regarding claim 4
Gauvreau does not fully disclose:
The base station according to claim1,wherein the first beacon includes necessary information to establish a multi-link using the first and second wireless signal processing [[units]] circuits.
Patil discloses:
The base station according to claim1,wherein the first beacon includes necessary information to establish a multi-link using the first and second wireless signal processing [[units]] circuits. (Paragraph [0055], “To support the described multi-link aggregation techniques, APs 105 and STAs 115 may exchange supported aggregation capability information (e.g. supported aggregation type, supported frequency bands, etc.). In some cases, the exchange of information may occur via a beacon signal”)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Gauvreau in view of Patil to incorporate multi-link aggregation through beacon signals. One would have been motivated to do this to increase reliability and redundancy.
Regarding claim 5
Gauvreau does not fully disclose:
The base station according to claim 1,wherein the second beacon is an SIG beacon or a beacon transmitted in a FILS scheme.
Patil discloses:The base station according to claim 1,wherein the second beacon is an SIG beacon or a beacon transmitted in a FILS scheme. (Paragraph [0067], “For example, such beacons may be for discovery or measurement purposes. In aspects, beacons on other links (e.g., link 205-b) may be mini-beacons, such as a fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frame or a measurement pilot frame. Such mini-beacons may indicate the presence of the anchor link.” Describes discovery beacons (second beacon) and FILS.)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Gauvreau in view of Patil to incorporate a FILS scheme to the discovery beacons. One would have been motivated to do this to increase discovery speed and reduce collisions and airtime due to lower channel occupancy.
Regarding claim 6
Gauvreau does not fully disclose:
The base station according to claim1,wherein the first channel is a channel used for establishing a multi-link using the first and second wireless signal processing [[units]] circuits.
Patil discloses:
The base station according to claim1,wherein the first channel is a channel used for establishing a multi-link using the first and second wireless signal processing [[units]] circuits. (Paragraph [0055], “In some cases, an AP 105 may designate a given channel in a given band as an anchor link (e.g., the wireless link on which it transmits beacons, management frames, control information, association information, etc., to support the discovery, establishment, and/or maintenance of wireless links used to multi-link aggregation”)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Gauvreau in view of Patil to incorporate an anchor link for the base station. One would have been motivated to do this to increase reliability (in case of a failed path).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combined teachings of Gauvreau, Patil, and Yoon in view of Sakoda (US 7995548 B2, hereinafter Sakoda).
Regarding claim 3
Gauvreau discloses:
The base station according to claim 1, wherein the processor further manages transmission of a beacon of the first wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit so that the first beacon and the second beacon are periodically transmitted from the first wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit, (Paragraph [0066], “the beacon device may transmit the discovery beacon and the regular beacon simultaneously using multiple transmitters, (i.e., the discovery beacon is transmitted using a dedicated transmitter). Alternatively, the beacon device may transmit the discovery beacon and the regular beacon simultaneously using multiple radios, (i.e. using a dedicated transmitter/receiver on a channel dedicated for sending the discovery beacon).” And Paragraph [0063], “the complete beacon may be repeated on all or predetermine number of channels instead of segmenting it. This may be useful for the devices which can receive on one channel.” The discovery beacon may be transmitted in addition to this beacon periodically and may happen from any wireless signal processing circuit.)
Gauvreau does not disclose:
and transmission timing of the first beacon by the first wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit is shifted from the transmission timing of the first beacon by the second wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit.
Sakoda discloses:
and transmission timing of the first beacon by the first wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit is shifted from the transmission timing of the first beacon by the second wireless signal processing [[unit]] circuit. (Col. 19 lines 60-64, “each beacon is transmitted at a point-in-time having a slight intentional time offset from the TBTT (Target Beacon Transmission Time) which is the transmission point-in-time of each beacon. This is referred to as "TBTT offset".” And Col. 20 lines 3-6, “Due to setting the TBTT offset, even in a case wherein two communication stations have placed the beacon transmission timing at the same slot in the super frame, the actual beacon transmission point-in-time can be shifted…” TBTT offset is a shift in the transmission timing for a beacon.)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combined teachings of Gauvreau, Patil and Yoon in view of Sakoda to incorporate TBTT offset to the multi-link transmissions. One would have been motivated to do this help avoid collisions and improve reliability.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NAM P CAO whose telephone number is (571)270-0614. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jae Y Lee can be reached at 5712703936. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/NAM P. CAO/Examiner, Art Unit 2479 /JAE Y LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2479
Prosecution Insights