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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 13-22, 24, 27 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kottontavida et al. (US 2019/0306790, hereinafter “Kottontavida”) in view of Min et al. (US 2022/0141680, hereinafter “Min”).
For claims 1 and 27, Kottontavida discloses A central device for wireless communication (FIG. 9 shows a diagram 1900 that describes hardware components and subcomponents of an AP 105; see Kottontavida par. 0078 and Fig. 9), comprising:
one or more memories; and
one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors individually or collectively configured to (One example of an implementation of the AP 105 may include a variety of components, some of which have already been described above, but including components such as one or more processors 1912, a memory 1916, and a transceiver 1902 in communication via one or more buses 1944; see Kottontavida par. 0078 and Fig. 9):
transmit an indication that a first peripheral device is to, within each frame rendered by the central device, receive downlink data from the central device in a downlink slot and transmit available uplink data to the central device within one or more first service periods that are assigned to the first peripheral device in an uplink slot (the AP1 105-a may send an indication (TWT resp. 2) to the STA2 115-b as part of a TWT2 initiated by the AP1 105-a. After establishing the TWT communications (e.g., TWT 2), the STA2 115-b may enter a doze/sleep state until the designated wake up interval or slot in connection with a first TWT service period (SP) 2. After the first TWT SP1 and the first TWT SP2, a trigger is generated by the AP1 105-a that initiates a trigger-enabled TWT SP and wake interval. During the trigger-enabled TWT SP, the STA1 115-a may transmit or send data to the AP1 105-a (e.g., UL Data 1) and the STA2 115-b may transmit or send data to the AP1 105-a (e.g., UL Data 2). The transmission of UL Data 1 and UL Data 2 may occur at the same time.; see Kottontavida par. 0047, 0050-0059, Fig. 3 and 5);
transmit, based at least in part on the indication, a downlink message in a downlink slot of a frame (In response, the AP1 105-a may transmit or send a multiple block acknowledgment (M-BA) followed by downlink, multi-user PLCP protocol data unit (DL MU-PPDU); see Kottontavida par. 0047, 0050-0059, Fig. 3 and 5); and
receive, based at least in part on the indication, a first uplink message in a first service period assigned to the first peripheral device in an uplink slot of the frame (The STA1 115-a may respond with a block acknowledgment (BA1) while the STA2 115-b may subsequently respond with a block acknowledgement (BA2); see Kottontavida par. 0047; transmit to an AP, an indication that a communications link is to remain active between a terminated scheduled service period and a next or second scheduled service period. The scheduling component may prepare frames in a transmission queue for transmission during a TWT service period or in between TWT service periods; see Kottontavida par. 0076).
Kottontavida does not explicitly disclose within each frame rendered by the central device. Min discloses within each frame rendered by the central device (when the TWT service period starts, the electronic device 101 may transmit a trigger frame 511 to the external electronic device 205. For example, the trigger frame 511 may be a control frame that requests (e.g., triggers) the uplink (UL) operation (e.g., transmission of uplink traffic) of the external electronic device 201; see Min par. 0102, 0114). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Min's arrangement in Kottontavida's invention to minimize latency in transmission and/or reception of data, and/or end-to-end latency of the electronic device and/or the external electronic device (see Min par. 0008).
For claims 2 and 21, Kottontavida discloses The central device of claim 1, wherein the one or more first service periods share the uplink slot with one or more second service periods assigned to a second peripheral device (The scheduling of TWT communications may be based on broadcast TWT and/or individual type TWT. As shown and described in the diagram 200, the second slot is used for broadcast TWT for a number of STAs, and other slots are used for an "individual" type TWT which is implemented for the different STAs in a group of STAs where each STA establishes a TWT scheduling agreement with the AP. These individual TWT scheduling agreements may have overlapping service periods or wake durations. That is, two or more individual agreements may align such that they may have the same wakeup timeline as illustrated in FIG. 2. For example, during the slot TWT #1 (also referred to as TWT service period or TWT SP), STA #1, ... , STA #10 may be scheduled to wake and may therefore transmit/receive data with the AP during the specific time interval of the slot TWT #1. During the slot TWT #2, STA #11, ... , STA #20 may be scheduled to wake and may therefore transmit (Tx)/receive (Rx) data with the AP during the specific time interval of the slot TWT #2; see Kottontavida par. 0046).
For claims 3 and 22, Kottontavida does not explicitly disclose The central device of claim 2, wherein the one or more first service periods do not overlap in time with the one or more second service periods. Min discloses The central device of claim 2, wherein the one or more first service periods do not overlap in time with the one or more second service periods (the starting time value of the next TWT service period may be determined within a range such that the new added TWT service period (e.g., the added service period) does not overlap the TWT service period of another external electronic device. For example, if the electronic device 101 is communicating or is to communicate with another external electronic device during the determined time interval (e.g., the interval between the end time of the TWT service period (e.g., the 2nd service period) and the next TWT 909), the external electronic device 205 may wait until the communication with another external electronic device is terminated and then initiate the new TWT service period (e.g., the added service period); see Min par. 0128). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Min's arrangement in Kottontavida's invention to minimize latency in transmission and/or reception of data, and/or end-to-end latency of the electronic device and/or the external electronic device (see Min par. 0008).
For claims 5 and 24, Kottontavida discloses The central device of claim 2, wherein the first peripheral device shares the one or more first service periods with one or more other peripheral devices (The scheduling of TWT communications may be based on broadcast TWT and/or individual type TWT. As shown and described in the diagram 200, the second slot is used for broadcast TWT for a number of STAs, and other slots are used for an "individual" type TWT which is implemented for the different STAs in a group of STAs where each STA establishes a TWT scheduling agreement with the AP. These individual TWT scheduling agreements may have overlapping service periods or wake durations. That is, two or more individual agreements may align such that they may have the same wakeup timeline as illustrated in FIG. 2. For example, during the slot TWT #1 (also referred to as TWT service period or TWT SP), STA #1, ... , STA #10 may be scheduled to wake and may therefore transmit/receive data with the AP during the specific time interval of the slot TWT #1. During the slot TWT #2, STA #11, ..., STA #20 may be scheduled to wake and may therefore transmit (Tx)/receive (Rx) data with the AP during the specific time interval of the slot TWT #2; see Kottontavida par. 0046).
For claim 13, Kottontavida discloses The central device of claim 1, wherein the one or more first service periods are assigned to the first peripheral device in accordance with a target wake time schedule (At step 507, if there is an available TWT time slot, the process moves to step 510 for determining if there is an increase in TX/RX packets as a result of assigning the STA to a TWT time slot. If there is an increase, the process flow moves to step 508 to determine whether the STA is operating in MU-MIMO mode. If the STA is not operating in MUMIMO mode, the process moves to step 509 for selecting a TWT slot with the lowest congestion level (i.e. less active slot). It is preferred to select a TWT slot that has not been assigned to a STA for MU-MIMO communication. Once a TWT slot has been selected at step 509, the process flow moves to step 520 for formulation of one or more new TWT slots service period assignment, and communicate the same to the STA. Formulation of one or more TWT slots is generally configurable, and the increased number of TWT slots may be based on a percentage of the existing number of TWT slots; see Kottontavida par. 0054, 0063, 0076).
For claim 14, Kottontavida discloses The central device of claim 1, wherein the one or more first service periods are configured based at least in part on a quantity of other peripheral devices that use the central device (The scheduling of TWT communications may be based on broadcast TWT and/or individual type TWT. As shown and described in the diagram 200, the second slot is used for broadcast TWT for a number of STAs, and other slots are used for an "individual" type TWT which is implemented for the different STAs in a group of STAs where each STA establishes a TWT scheduling agreement with the AP. These individual TWT scheduling agreements may have overlapping service periods or wake durations. That is, two or more individual agreements may align such that they may have the same wakeup timeline as illustrated in FIG. 2. For example, during the slot TWT #1 (also referred to as TWT service period or TWT SP), STA #1, ... , STA #10 may be scheduled to wake and may therefore transmit/receive data with the AP during the specific time interval of the slot TWT #1. During the slot TWT #2, STA #11, ... , STA #20 may be scheduled to wake and may therefore transmit (Tx)/receive (Rx) data with the AP during the specific time interval of the slot TWT #2; see Kottontavida par. 0045-0046, 0048, 0031).
For claim 15, Kottontavida discloses The central device of claim 1, wherein the one or more first service periods are configured based at least in part on a reliability parameter (the TWT communications component 140a may include a number of subcomponents (not shown for clarity) for determining and evaluating various aspects of the network operating parameters, such as congestion, interference level, latency, etc. Component 140a may be configured to communicate with and support the various hardware components of the STA 115. Component 140a may monitor various network operating parameters, such as channel congestion, interference, latency, etc. to identify or obtain certain network operating metrics as explained throughout the disclosure. Component 140a may operate in conjunction with the processors 1812 and/or the modem 1814 to determine whether the such identified network operating metric(s) meets a threshold as explained throughout. Component 140a may be implemented by or may be a subcomponent of the transceiver 1802 and may transmit a request to establish TWT communications in response to determining that such metrics meet the corresponding thresholds. Component 140a may be implemented by the processor 1812, the modem 1814, and/or the transceiver 1802 and may enable the STA 115 to modify or otherwise adjust set-up parameters of the TWT communications such as a service period, a service interval, a wake duration, and other parameters with an associated AP; see Kottontavida par. 0075).
For claim 16, Kottontavida does not explicitly disclose The central device of claim 1, wherein the one or more first service periods are configured based at least in part on a data sampling frequency or a refresh rate for peripheral device data. Min discloses The central device of claim 1, wherein the one or more first service periods are configured based at least in part on a data sampling frequency or a refresh rate for peripheral device data (the electronic device 101 or the external electronic device 205 may change the duration (SP duration) and/or the interval of the TWT service period in stages. For example, the electronic device 101 or the external electronic device 205 may determine a parameter set including the duration and/or interval of the TWT service period on the basis of a refresh rate, periodically identify quality of service, reduce the same by 1 stage whenever quality of service is identified to be good, increase the same by 1 stage whenever quality of service is identified to be bad, and determine the parameters corresponding to the stages as the parameters to be applied to the TWT service period; see Min par. 0227, 0144, 0097). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Min's arrangement in Kottontavida's invention to minimize latency in transmission and/or reception of data, and/or end-to-end latency of the electronic device and/or the external electronic device (see Min par. 0008).
For claim 17, Kottontavida does not explicitly disclose The central device of claim 1, wherein each service period, of the one or more first service periods, supports retransmissions. Min discloses The central device of claim 1, wherein each service period, of the one or more first service periods, supports retransmissions (the electronic device 101 and/or the external electronic device 205 may transmit a corresponding data frame during each TWT service period after initial TWT setup, identify whether or not retransmission of the missing frame is possible within the remaining TWT service period if a missing frame occurs during each TWT service period, and reschedule the next TWT service period if retransmission of the missing frame is not possible within the remaining TWT service period, thereby minimizing the latency caused by the occurrence of the missing frame; see Min par. 0137, 0131, 0122). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Min's arrangement in Kottontavida's invention to minimize latency in transmission and/or reception of data, and/or end-to-end latency of the electronic device and/or the external electronic device (see Min par. 0008).
For claim 18, Kottontavida does not explicitly disclose The central device of claim 1, wherein each service period, of the one or more first service periods, is based at least in part on one or more of a type of uplink data or a data rate expectation of uplink data. Min discloses The central device of claim 1, wherein each service period, of the one or more first service periods, is based at least in part on one or more of a type of uplink data or a data rate expectation of uplink data (if the trigger frame 521 is received, the external electronic device 205 may identify whether or not uplink data (e.g., the uplink data 523 in FIG. 5) is able to be transmitted within the remaining period (e.g., before the expiration of the TWT service period (e.g., the 2nd service period) after a time T4) of the TWT service period (e.g., the 2nd service period) at the time T4 at which the trigger frame 521 is received. The external electronic device 205 may identify the time required to transmit uplink data (e.g., the uplink data 523 in FIG. 5) on the basis of a network bandwidth or a bit rate, and, if it is identified that the time required to transmit uplink data (e.g., the uplink data 523 in FIG. 5) exceeds the remaining period of the TWT service period ( e.g., the 2nd service period), may determine that the uplink data ( e.g., the uplink data 523 in FIG. 5) is unable to be transmitted; see Min par. 0128). ). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Min's arrangement in Kottontavida's invention to minimize latency in transmission and/or reception of data, and/or end-to-end latency of the electronic device and/or the external electronic device (see Min par. 0008).
For claim 19, Kottontavida does not explicitly disclose The central device of claim 1, wherein the indication indicates a maximum quantity of transmission retries for the first peripheral device based at least in part on one or more of a quantity of other peripheral devices that use the central device, a modulation and coding scheme used by the central device, or a traffic pattern of data associated with the central device. Min discloses The central device of claim 1, wherein the indication indicates a maximum quantity of transmission retries for the first peripheral device based at least in part on one or more of a quantity of other peripheral devices that use the central device, a modulation and coding scheme used by the central device, or a traffic pattern of data associated with the central device (the electronic device 101 or the external electronic device 205 may determine the TWT wake duration 1113b, which is different from the TWT wake duration determined at the time of initial setup, on the basis of the additional time required for transmission of the data frame that failed to be transmitted during the previous TWT service period. For example, in the case where the TWT wake duration determined at the time of initial setup is 2 ms, if a time of 4 ms is taken for transmission of the data frame that failed to be transmitted during the previous TWT service period due to channel congestion and retransmission of the missing frame, the TWT wake duration 1113b may be determined to be 4 ms taken for transmission of the data frame that failed to be transmitted during the previous TWT service period and retransmission of the missing frame; see Min par. 0181). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Min's arrangement in Kottontavida's invention to minimize latency in transmission and/or reception of data, and/or end-to-end latency of the electronic device and/or the external electronic device (see Min par. 0008).
For claims 20 and 29, Kottontavida discloses A first peripheral device for wireless communication (FIG. 8 shows a diagram 1800 that describes hardware components and subcomponents of an STA 115 for implementing the various features described herein in connection with TWT communications; see Kottontavida par. 0064 and Fig. 8), comprising:
one or more memories; and
one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors individually or collectively configured to (one or more processors 1812, the memory 1816, and the transceiver 1802 in communication via one or more buses 1844, which may operate in conjunction with the TWT communications component 140a to enable one or more of the functions described herein; see Kottontavida par. 0065 and Fig. 8):
receive an indication that the first peripheral device is to, within each frame rendered by a central device, receive downlink data from the central device in a downlink slot and transmit available uplink data to the central device within one or more first service periods that are assigned to the first peripheral device in an uplink slot (the AP1 105-a may send an indication (TWT resp. 2) to the STA2 115-b as part of a TWT2 initiated by the AP1 105-a. After establishing the TWT communications (e.g., TWT 2), the STA2 115-b may enter a doze/sleep state until the designated wake up interval or slot in connection with a first TWT service period (SP) 2. After the first TWT SP1 and the first TWT SP2, a trigger is generated by the AP1 105-a that initiates a trigger-enabled TWT SP and wake interval. During the trigger-enabled TWT SP, the STA1 115-a may transmit or send data to the AP1 105-a (e.g., UL Data 1) and the STA2 115-b may transmit or send data to the AP1 105-a (e.g., UL Data 2). The transmission of UL Data 1 and UL Data 2 may occur at the same time.; see Kottontavida par. 0047, 0050-0059, Fig. 3 and 5);
receive, based at least in part on the indication, a downlink message in a downlink slot of a frame (In response, the AP1 105-a may transmit or send a multiple block acknowledgment (M-BA) followed by downlink, multi-user PLCP protocol data unit (DL MU-PPDU); see Kottontavida par. 0047, 0050-0059, Fig. 3 and 5); and
transmit, based at least in part on the indication, a first uplink message in a first service period assigned to the first peripheral device in an uplink slot of the frame (The STA1 115-a may respond with a block acknowledgment (BA1) while the STA2 115-b may subsequently respond with a block acknowledgement (BA2); see Kottontavida par. 0047; transmit to an AP, an indication that a communications link is to remain active between a terminated scheduled service period and a next or second scheduled service period. The scheduling component may prepare frames in a transmission queue for transmission during a TWT service period or in between TWT service periods; see Kottontavida par. 0076).
Kottontavida does not explicitly disclose within each frame rendered by the central device. Min discloses within each frame rendered by the central device (when the TWT service period starts, the electronic device 101 may transmit a trigger frame 511 to the external electronic device 205. For example, the trigger frame 511 may be a control frame that requests (e.g., triggers) the uplink (UL) operation (e.g., transmission of uplink traffic) of the external electronic device 201; see Min par. 0102, 0114). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Min's arrangement in Kottontavida's invention to minimize latency in transmission and/or reception of data, and/or end-to-end latency of the electronic device and/or the external electronic device (see Min par. 0008).
Claim(s) 4 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kottontavida and Min, and further in view of Choi et al. (US 2021/0410089, hereinafter “Choi”).
For claims 4 and 23, the combination of Kottontavida and Min does not explicitly disclose The central device of claim 2, wherein the one or more first service periods partially overlap in time with the one or more second service periods. Choi discloses The central device of claim 2, wherein the one or more first service periods partially overlap in time with the one or more second service periods (The second electronic device 403 may identify the first TWT service period 1103 of the first electronic device 401 and the first TWT service periods 1105 and 1107 of the first and second external electronic devices 501a and 501 b. The second electronic device 403 may identify that there is time (e.g., time from ts to t4) during which the first TWT service period 1103 of the first electronic device 401 at least partially overlaps with the first TWT service period 1105 of the first external electronic device 501a; see Choi par. 0199, 0078, 0232). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Choi's arrangement in Kottontavida's invention to provide an electronic device that may identify target wake time (TWT) information of an external electronic device that generates signal interference, and obtain channel environment information at time corresponding to an identified TWT service period (see Choi par. 0011).
Claim(s) 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kottontavida and Min, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2020/0137612, hereinafter “Li”).
For claim 12, Kottontavida does not explicitly disclose The central device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the indication, are individually or collectively configured to transmit the indication in a vendor-specific action frame. Li discloses The central device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the indication, are individually or collectively configured to transmit the indication in a vendor-specific action frame (similar traffic direction information can be signaled using other signaling formats such as, but not limited to, a frame or an element such as a vendor specific information element (IE), in addition to or alternative to TWT element 500. For example, field(s) in the vendor specific IE can be re-purposed for traffic direction information. Additionally or alternative, one or more new field(s) can be defined and/or added in the vendor specific IE for traffic direction information. According to some embodiments, an association between the TE and the specific TWT schedule can be done through, for example, TWT flow identifier (ID) 536. For example, a specific TWT element can include the parameters associated with the specific TWT schedule ( e.g., a TWT start time, the number of service period(s), duration(s) associated with the service period(s), repetition interval( s ), and the like) and the IF can include the traffic direction information. An identifier in the IE associates the IE with the specific TWT element ( e.g., using TWT flow identifier (ID) 536; see Li par. 0047, 0050, 0054, 0069). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Li's arrangement in Kottontavida's invention to allow the station to transition between an active mode and a sleep mode in a responsive manner, improving power consumption and latency (see Li par. 0003).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-11, 21-26, 28 and 30 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
-Cavalcanti et al. (US 2018/0184438): par. 0044-0073.
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/CHAE S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415