DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to Applicant’s amendment filed on 1/28/2026. Claims 1-20 are still pending. This action is made FINAL.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-9 and 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Oost et al (US 20170188271 A1, hereinafter Van Oost) in view of Kolar at al (US 20190116539 A1, hereinafter Kolar).
Consider claims 1 and 15, Van Oost discloses a terminal scanning method, performed by a first access point (AP) comprises at least one processor coupled to at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (Fig. 5), wherein the method comprising:
obtaining a communication feature of a to-be-scanned terminal, wherein the to-be-scanned terminal is a terminal that accesses the first AP, and the communication feature indicates a communication status between the to-be-scanned terminal and the first AP (When AP 1, which has an active association with MT, determines that the link quality is below a predetermined threshold, step 301, Fig. 3 and paragraph 64); and
sending, by the first AP, a scan request to a second AP if the communication feature meets a scan trigger condition, wherein the second AP is a neighboring AP of the first AP, and the scan request indicates the second AP to scan the to-be-scanned terminal (When AP 1, which has an active association with MT, determines that the link quality is below a predetermined threshold, step 301, it sends a message to AP2, AP3, . . . , APn, triggering those APs to issue probe request messages to MT, step 302, Fig. 3 and paragraph 64).
However, Van Oost does not expressly disclose wherein the communication feature comprises a motion feature of the to-be-scanned terminal determining the motion feature based on updating a motion model by inputting a time sequence, wherein the motion feature indicates whether the to-be-scanned terminal is moving away from the first AP.
In the same field of endeavor, Kolar discloses wherein the communication feature comprises a motion feature of the to-be-scanned terminal determining the motion feature based on updating a motion model by inputting a time sequence, wherein the motion feature indicates whether the to-be-scanned terminal is moving away from the first AP (The service performs, in advance of the particular client device initiating roaming to the one or more wireless access points, one or more roaming handshakes on behalf of the particular client device and with respect to the wireless access point to which the particular client device is predicted to roam (paragraph 68). Kolar uses the mobility path graph representing roaming transitions to predict the access point where a mobile terminal is likely to roam (paragraph 68). The mobility path considers when a mobile terminal moves away from an AP and closer to another AP (assume now that client device 602 has moved along path of travel 606 and is now closer to AP 604, see Figs. 6A-6D and paragraphs 74-75).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kolar with the teachings of Van Oost to reduce the amount of time needed for a client device to roam between APs in a wireless network.
Consider claims 2 and 16, and as applied to claims 1 and 15 respectively above, Van Oost discloses wherein the communication feature further comprises at least one of a signal strength feature, a traffic feature, or, the traffic feature indicates a traffic transmission rate between the first AP and the to-be-scanned terminal (RSSI, paragraph 61).
Consider claims 3 and 17, and as applied to claims 2 and 16 respectively above, Van Oost discloses wherein the scan trigger condition comprises at least one of the following:
a feature value of the signal strength feature is less than a signal strength threshold (When AP 1, which has an active association with MT, determines that the link quality is below a predetermined threshold, paragraph 64; [link quality is determined by RSSI, see paragraph 61];
a feature value of the traffic feature is greater than a traffic transmission rate threshold.
Consider claims 4 and 18, and as applied to claims 1 and 15 respectively above, Van Oost does not expressly disclose wherein the communication feature comprises the motion feature of the to-be-scanned terminal; and
obtaining the communication feature of the to-be-scanned terminal further comprises:
determining the motion feature based on a first time sequence of the to-be-scanned terminal, wherein the first time sequence comprises network environment statuses of the to-be-scanned terminal at a plurality of time points, and the network environment status indicates a network environment that is of the to-be-scanned terminal and that corresponds to the first AP.
In the same field of endeavor, Kolar discloses wherein the communication feature comprises the motion feature of the to-be-scanned terminal (FIG. 6B, assume now that client device 602 has moved along path of travel 606 and is now closer to AP 604, paragraph 75); and
obtaining the communication feature of the to-be-scanned terminal further comprises:
determining the motion feature based on a first time sequence of the to-be-scanned terminal, wherein the first time sequence comprises network environment statuses of the to-be-scanned terminal at a plurality of time points, and the network environment status indicates a network environment that is of the to-be-scanned terminal and that corresponds to the first AP ( In FIG. 6A, assume that a client device 602 is a mobile device that is traveling along a path of travel 606…At time T=t.sub.0, client device 602 may be connected to the wireless network via AP 604a, which may be the closest AP 604 to client device 602 at this time or, alternatively, offer the best characteristics in terms of signal strength, SNR, etc…. In FIG. 6B, assume now that client device 602 has moved along path of travel 606 and is now closer to AP 604b at time T=t.sub.1…. In FIG. 6C, client device 602 may perform a similar operation as in FIG. 6C, but with AP 604c. Notably, assume now that at time T=t.sub.2, client device 602 is now within closest proximity to AP 604c and/or that AP 604c offers the best characteristics, from the perspective of client device 602, paragraphs 74-76).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kolar with the teachings of Van Oost to reduce the amount of time needed for a client device to roam between APs in a wireless network.
Consider claims 5 and 19, and as applied to claims 4 and 18 respectively above, Kolar discloses wherein the determining the motion feature based on the first time sequence of the to-be-scanned terminal further comprises:
inputting the first time sequence into the motion model, and outputting the motion feature by using the motion model based on the input first time sequence (the service may use a machine learning-based model to predict a mobility path of the particular client device, based on previous movements of the particular client device paragraph 98).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kolar with the teachings of Van Oost to reduce the amount of time needed for a client device to roam between APs in a wireless network.
Consider claim 6, and as applied to claim 4 above, Van Oost discloses wherein the network environment status comprises a network status of the to-be-scanned terminal RSSI reading, paragraph 61).
Consider claim 7, and as applied to claim 6 above, Kolar discloses wherein the network environment status further comprises a working status of the first AP.
(to collect rich datasets related to network control planes (e.g., Wi-Fi roaming, join and authentication, routing, QoS, PHY/MAC counters, links/node failures), traffic characteristics, and other such telemetry data regarding the monitored network, paragraph 47).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kolar with the teachings of Van Oost to reduce the amount of time needed for a client device to roam between APs in a wireless network.
Consider claim 8, and as applied to claim 6 above, Van Oost discloses
wherein the network status comprises at least one of a signal strength between the to-be-scanned terminal and the first AP and a radio frequency band used by the to-be-scanned terminal (RSSI, paragraph 61).
Consider claim 9, and as applied to claim 7 above, Kolar discloses wherein the working status comprises at least one of a channel identifier, a channel bandwidth, channel utilization, a quantity of accessing terminals, and transmit power of the first AP (e.g., Wi-Fi roaming, join and authentication, routing, QoS, PHY/MAC counters, links/node failures), traffic characteristics, and other such telemetry data regarding the monitored network, paragraph 47).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kolar with the teachings of Van Oost to reduce the amount of time needed for a client device to roam between APs in a wireless network.
Claims 10-12 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Oost in view of Kolar, and further in view of Nagaraju et al (US 20180032915 A1, hereinafter Nagaraju).
Consider claim 10, and as applied to claim 5 above, the combination of Van Oost and Kolar does not expressly disclose wherein before inputting the first time sequence into the motion model, the method further comprises:
receiving the motion model from a control node.
In the same field of endeavor, Nagaraju discloses wherein before inputting the first time sequence into the motion model, the method further comprises:
receiving the motion model from a control node (In step 1108, the server computer system executes one or more machine-learning processes to train the global model with the global training data or the global data items. In step 1110, the server computer system sends the model data based on the updated global model to each of the edge devices. As indicated above, the model data can include data suitable to change or replace a local model for each respective edge device, Fig. 13 and paragraph 150).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Nagaraju with the teachings of Van Oost and Kolar to synchronize local models with a the global model.
Consider claims 11 and 20, and as applied to claims 10 and 19 respectively above, Kolar discloses wherein before the receiving the motion model from the control node, the method further comprises:
sending a second time sequence of at least one terminal to the control node, wherein the second time sequence of the at least one terminal is used to obtain the motion model through training, a second time sequence of one terminal comprises network environment statuses of the terminal at a plurality of time points, and the network environment status indicates a network environment that is of the terminal and that corresponds to the first AP (Referring again to FIG. 5, roaming delay analyzer 506 may use the roaming data collected from the monitored network, to construct a roaming delay graph for the wireless network. In one embodiment, roaming delay analyzer 506 may use machine learning to first compute the most traveled mobility paths in the network and construct a mobility path graph (e.g., a model of the movement of the client device(s) in the network). A node in the constructed graph may represent an AP with edges of the graph representing roaming events from one AP to another. In turn, roaming delay analyzer 506 may associate the collected metrics regarding roaming delays with the represented mobility paths in the graph (e.g., by associating the metrics with the edges of the graph), thereby forming a roaming delay graph for the wireless network. In various embodiments, roaming delay analyzer 506 may generate a mobility path graph per user, per client device, or as an aggregate of captured data regarding any number users or client devices, paragraph 79).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kolar with the teachings of Van Oost and Nagaraju to reduce the amount of time needed for a client device to roam between APs in a wireless network.
Consider clam 12, and as applied to claim 11 above, Kolar discloses wherein the to-be-scanned terminal and the at least one terminal meet at least one of the following:
a terminal type of the to-be-scanned terminal is the same as a terminal type of the at least one terminal (analyzer 312 may be able to extract patterns of Wi-Fi roaming in the network and roaming behaviors (e.g., the “stickiness” of clients to APs 320, 328, “ping-pong” clients, the number of visited APs 320, 328, roaming triggers, etc). Analyzer 312 may characterize such patterns by the nature of the device (e.g., device type, OS)), paragraph 50);
the radio frequency band used by the to-be-scanned terminal is the same as a radio frequency band used by the at least one terminal; and
a signal strength measurement mode supported by the to-be-scanned terminal is the same as a signal strength measurement mode supported by the at least one terminal.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kolar with the teachings of Van Oost and Nagaraju to reduce the amount of time needed for a client device to roam between APs in a wireless network.
Claims 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kolar in view of Van Oost.
Consider claim 13, Kolar discloses a terminal scanning method, performed by a control node, wherein the method comprising:
obtaining a sample of at least one terminal, wherein one sample of one terminal comprises a third time sequence of the terminal and a label of the third time sequence, the third time sequence comprises network environment statuses of the terminal at a plurality of time points, the network environment status indicates a network environment that is of the terminal and that corresponds to an AP accessed by the terminal, and the label indicates a motion feature of the terminal reflected in the third time sequence (Referring again to FIG. 5, roaming delay analyzer 506 may use the roaming data collected from the monitored network, to construct a roaming delay graph for the wireless network. In one embodiment, roaming delay analyzer 506 may use machine learning to first compute the most traveled mobility paths in the network and construct a mobility path graph (e.g., a model of the movement of the client device(s) in the network). A node in the constructed graph may represent an AP with edges of the graph representing roaming events from one AP to another. In turn, roaming delay analyzer 506 may associate the collected metrics regarding roaming delays with the represented mobility paths in the graph (e.g., by associating the metrics with the edges of the graph), thereby forming a roaming delay graph for the wireless network. In various embodiments, roaming delay analyzer 506 may generate a mobility path graph per user, per client device, or as an aggregate of captured data regarding any number users or client devices, paragraph 79; In FIG. 6A, assume that a client device 602 is a mobile device that is traveling along a path of travel 606…At time T=t.sub.0, client device 602 may be connected to the wireless network via AP 604a, which may be the closest AP 604 to client device 602 at this time or, alternatively, offer the best characteristics in terms of signal strength, SNR, etc…. In FIG. 6B, assume now that client device 602 has moved along path of travel 606 and is now closer to AP 604b at time T=t.sub.1…. In FIG. 6C, client device 602 may perform a similar operation as in FIG. 6C, but with AP 604c. Notably, assume now that at time T=t.sub.2, client device 602 is now within closest proximity to AP 604c and/or that AP 604c offers the best characteristics, from the perspective of client device 602, paragraphs 74-76); and
performing model training based on the sample of the at least one terminal, to obtain a motion model, wherein the motion model is used to output a motion feature of a [to-be-scanned] terminal, to determine whether to scan the [to-be-scanned] terminal.
(Referring again to FIG. 5, roaming delay analyzer 506 may use the roaming data collected from the monitored network, to construct a roaming delay graph for the wireless network. In one embodiment, roaming delay analyzer 506 may use machine learning to first compute the most traveled mobility paths in the network and construct a mobility path graph (e.g., a model of the movement of the client device(s) in the network), paragraph 79).
Kolar does not expressly disclose a to-be-scanned terminal, or sending, by the first AP, a scan request to a second AP if the communication feature meets a scan trigger condition, wherein the second AP is a neighboring AP of the first AP, and the scan request indicates the second AP to scan the to-be-scanned terminal
In the same field of endeavor, Van Oost discloses a to-be-scanned terminal (MT in Fig, 4), and sending, by the first AP, a scan request to a second AP if the communication feature meets a scan trigger condition, wherein the second AP is a neighboring AP of the first AP, and the scan request indicates the second AP to scan the to-be-scanned terminal (When AP 1, which has an active association with MT, determines that the link quality is below a predetermined threshold, step 301, it sends a message to AP2, AP3, . . . , APn, triggering those APs to issue probe request messages to MT, step 302, Fig. 3 and paragraph 64).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Van Oost with the teachings of Kolar to control the handover process between a mobile terminal and an access point while avoiding any modifications to the mobile terminal.
Consider claim 14, and as applied to claim 13 above, Kolar discloses wherein the obtaining the a-sample of the at least one terminal further comprises:
for any terminal in the at least one terminal, obtaining at least one second time sequence of the terminal, wherein one second time sequence comprises network environment statuses of the terminal at a plurality of time points, and the network environment statuses in the second time sequence correspond to a same AP; and for any second time sequence in the at least one second time sequence, obtaining a sample of the terminal based on the second time sequence.
(Kolar discloses that capturing data for anu number of client devices, see paragraph 79).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 1/28/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Kolar’s roaming decision is implemented on the mobile terminal, not on the AP, and that Kolar does not suggest that a decision features can be implemented on the AP and basically argues against the combination of Van Oost and Kolar. According the Applicant the record fails to provide the required evidence of a motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art(p. 12).
The Examiner respectfully disagrees.
In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
In this case, Van Oost discloses a terminal scanning method, performed by a first access point (AP) which obtains a communication feature of a to-be-scanned terminal, wherein the to-be-scanned terminal is a terminal that accesses the first AP, and the communication feature indicates a communication status between the to-be-scanned terminal and the first AP (When AP 1, which has an active association with MT, determines that the link quality is below a predetermined threshold, step 301, Fig. 3 and paragraph 64); and sends a scan request to a second AP if the communication feature meets a scan trigger condition, wherein the second AP is a neighboring AP of the first AP, and the scan request indicates the second AP to scan the to-be-scanned terminal (When AP 1, which has an active association with MT, determines that the link quality is below a predetermined threshold, step 301, it sends a message to AP2, AP3, . . . , APn, triggering those APs to issue probe request messages to MT, step 302, Fig. 3 and paragraph 64).
Van Oost is related to handover of a mobile terminal between access points of a mobile communication network for allowing roaming of a mobile terminal attached to the mobile communication network (paragraph 1). In Van Oost access point (AP 104) serving a mobile terminal (MT 102) can instruct one of the second and third APs 106,108 to accept an impending association request from MT 102 (Fig. 2 and paragraph 62). Specifically, When the AP, which has an active association with MT, determines that the link quality is below a predetermined threshold, it sends a message to potential handover candidates Aps to trigger those APs to issue probe request messages to the MT (Paragraph 64).
Van Oost does not disclose wherein the communication feature comprises a motion feature of the to-be-scanned terminal determining the motion feature based on updating a motion model by inputting a time sequence, wherein the motion feature indicates whether the to-be-scanned terminal is moving away from the first AP.
Kolar is related to a service maintains a mobility path graph that represents roaming transitions between wireless access points in a network by one or more client devices in the network. The service identifies, using the mobility path graph, one of the wireless access points in the network to which a particular client device is predicted to roam. The service performs, in advance of the particular client device initiating roaming to the one or more wireless access points, one or more roaming handshakes on behalf of the particular client device and with respect to the wireless access point to which the particular client device is predicted to roam. Kolar uses the mobility path graph representing roaming transitions to predict the access point where a mobile terminal is likely to roam (see paragraph 68). The mobility path considers when a mobile terminal moves away from an AP and closer to another AP (See Figs. 6A-6D and paragraphs 74-75).
Both Van Oost and Kolar find desirable to reduce the time necessary for a handover, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would find obvious to apply machine learning to the system of Van Oost, as machine learning allows identification of trends and patterns to make decisions that improve its performance.
Applicant also argues that the required modification would require significant hardware/software changes, and that there is no evidence that a person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to perform such changes and redesign (p. 12).
The Examiner respectfully disagrees, as Kolar suggests that the techniques described could be used not only in Wi_Fi networks, but also in 4G/5G/LTE. IoT and LLN networks that use 802.15.4, etc. (paragraph 67).
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 GERMAN VIANA DI PRISCO whose telephone number is (571)270-1781. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:30-5:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RAFAEL PEREZ-GUTIERREZ can be reached at (571) 272-7915. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GERMAN VIANA DI PRISCO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642