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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1 - 6, and 12 - 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Daoud et al. (2022/0182882), hereinafter Daoud in view of Shi et al. (CN 115250481 B), hereinafter Shi.
Re. Claims 1 and 14, Daoud teaches a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 7 (704, 706)), comprising: a transceiver configured to communicate with one or more networks (¶0064 - Wireless interfaces 704 include a WiFi interface 721, and P-LTE interface(s) 734.); and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver (Fig. 7 (702)) and configured to: determine that a private enterprise deployed cellular network is available (Fig 4, ¶0034 – [A] first end device, e.g., end device 1 316, is operated to join a P-LTE network, e.g., the P-LTE network with coverage area 303.); determine that a Wi-Fi network is available at a same time as the private enterprise deployed cellular network (Fig 4 & ¶0038 - In step 412 the first end device determines if WiFi is turned on); and prioritize connection to the private enterprise deployed cellular network over the Wi-Fi network based a first set of one or more conditions (Fig. 4; 412, 414, 416, & 148 & ¶0038 - If the determination of step 414 is that the WiFi coverage is not good, then operation proceeds from step 414 to step 418, in which the first end device is operated to stay on the P-LTE network and use the P-LTE network for communications)
However, Daud does not expressly teach when connection to the private enterprise deployed cellular network is prioritized, determine whether to connect to the private enterprise deployed cellular network or the Wi-Fi network based on a second set of one or more conditions.
Yet, Shi explicitly teaches when connection to the private enterprise deployed cellular network is prioritized, determine whether to connect to the private enterprise deployed cellular network or the Wi-Fi network based on a second set of one or more conditions (Pg. 8, Line 22 - judge whether the network system of the current access network is better than the network system of another wireless data access network based on the pre-stored priority list of the network system of the WiFi and the cellular network… Pg. 5, Line 15 - automatically switching to the other wireless data access network so as to ensure that the user terminal is always accessed to the network with fast current internet speed).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Shi to the teaching of Daud. The motivation for such would be as Shi provides a means for continuing to check to switch between Wi-Fi and Cellular after priority has been established (Shi, Pg. 8, Line 22). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 2, Daud and Shi teach Claim 1.
Additionally, Daoud teaches wherein the processor is further configured to: connect to the private enterprise deployed cellular network when the second set of one or more conditions are satisfied (Fig. 5; 532, 512, 524, 526, 528, 530, & ¶0056-0057 - In step 526 the configuration server selects a profile to be used based on input information, e.g., applications to be used, device type (e.g., general purpose user type device such as a cell phone vs a sensor or fixed appliance type device), time is to be used (optionally implemented using an AI trained model to match inputs to profile to be returned)… In step 528 the configuration server communicates, e.g., returns, the selected profile (e.g., the first profile 516) to the device which requested the profile).
Re. Claims 3 and 15, Daud and Shi teach Claim 1 and 14.
Additionally, Daoud teaches wherein the processor is further configured to: determine that the UE is capable of connecting to a private enterprise deployed cellular network providing cellular services (Fig 4, ¶0034 – [A] first end device, e.g., end device 1 316, is operated to join a P-LTE network, e.g., the P-LTE network with coverage area 303).
Re. Claims 4 and 16, Daud and Shi teach Claim 3 and 15.
Additionally, Daoud teaches wherein the determination that the UE is capable of connecting to the private enterprise deployed cellular network comprises the processor configured to: determine that the UE comprises a subscriber identity module (SIM) card comprising credentials to connect to the private enterprise deployed cellular network (Fig. 7 (709) & ¶0064 - Exemplary end device 700 includes… [a] SIM card 709, coupled together via a bus 714 over which the various elements may interchange data and information).
Re. Claims 5 and 17, Daud and Shi teach Claim 1 and 14.
Additionally, Daoud teaches wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises the private enterprise deployed cellular network is being a preferred cellular data provider (¶0009 - An exemplary configuration profile may identify a first set of applications for which a first network is to be used, e.g., a cellular network such as a private LTE network… The configuration server selects a configuration profile that is best suited for a particular end device, which is running a particular set of applications at a particular time, and communicates that selected profile to the end device, which implements access in accordance with the received configuration profile).
Re. Claims 6 and 18, Daud and Shi teach Claim 1 and 14.
Additionally, Daoud teaches wherein the one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises a user preference allowing cellular data to be used for an application (Fig. 4; 404, 406, 408, 410, & ¶0072 - Data/information 796 further includes the current state of WiFi setting for device 700, e.g., on or off based on user input of pre-configured settings of device 700, and the current WiFi quality status, e.g., good or bad).
Re. Claim 12, Daud and Shi teach Claim 1.
Additionally, Daoud teaches wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises a display device of the UE is on and unlocked (¶0033 - Operation of the exemplary method starts in step 402, in which the communications system is powered on and initialized).
Re. Claim 13, Daud and Shi teach Claim 1.
Additionally, Daoud teaches wherein the private enterprise deployed cellular network is a Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) network (¶0029 - The P-LTE network has a corresponding P-LTE network wireless coverage area 303 and includes one or more P-LTE access devices… [e.g.], a P-LTE Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) base station using shared spectrum…).
Claims 7-9, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Daoud in view of Shi and Chow et al. (CA 3101843), hereinafter Chow.
Re. Claims 7 and 19, Daud and Shi teach claims 1 and 14
Yet, neither Daoud nor Shi expressly teach wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises that cellular data for the private enterprise deployed cellular network is marked as inexpensive.
However, Chow does explicitly teach wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises that cellular data for the private enterprise deployed cellular network is marked as inexpensive (¶0099 - Any of the aforementioned policies may also be extended to have multiple or variable parameters, such as which performance metrics, cost factors, relative weightings of each parameter, etc. For example, a load- balancing policy may consider the network speed/bandwidth, latency and cost per byte, to calculate a policy on how/when to use another network (e.g., cellular) to augment the default, primary network (e.g., Wi-Fi)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Chow to the teaching of Daoud and Shi. The motivation for such would be as Chow provides a notable improvement to the communication system taught by Daoud that would allow the UE to better manage connections by implementing an expense system (Chow ¶0099). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 8, Daoud, Shi and Chow teach claims 1 and 7.
Yet, neither Daoud nor Shi expressly teach wherein an expense flag is used to mark the private enterprise deployed cellular network as inexpensive.
However, Chow explicitly teaches wherein an expense flag is used to mark the private enterprise deployed cellular network as inexpensive (¶0099 - Any of the aforementioned policies may also be extended to have multiple or variable parameters, such as which performance metrics, cost factors, relative weightings of each parameter, etc).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Chow to the teaching of Daoud and Shi. The motivation for such would be as Chow provides a notable improvement to the communication system taught by Daoud that would allow the UE to better manage connections by implementing an expense system (Chow ¶0099). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 9, Daoud and Shi teach claim 1.
Yet, neither Daoud nor Shi expressly teach wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises whether the signal quality with the private enterprise deployed cellular network satisfies a predetermined threshold.
However, Chow explicitly teaches wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises whether the signal quality with the private enterprise deployed cellular network satisfies a predetermined threshold (¶0110 - As the signal quality continues to fall and/or degrade, it can also be used to switch to a new primary network when the previous primary network's signal quality level falls below a worst-case level).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Chow to the teaching of Daoud and Shi. The motivation for such would be as Chow provides a notable improvement to the communication system taught by Daoud that would allow the UE to better manage connections by implementing an expense system (Chow ¶0099). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 20, Daoud and Shi teaches claim 14.
Yet, neither Daoud nor Shi expressly teach wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises one of (i) whether the signal quality with the private enterprise deployed cellular network satisfies a predetermined threshold, (ii) the UE is not in a low power mode, (iii) the UE is not overheating or (iv) a display device of the UE is on and unlocked.
However, Chow explicitly teaches wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises one of (i) whether the signal quality with the private enterprise deployed cellular network satisfies a predetermined threshold (¶0110 - As the signal quality continues to fall and/or degrade, it can also be used to switch to a new primary network when the previous primary network's signal quality level falls below a worst-case level. Additionally, examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”), (ii) the UE is not in a low power mode, (iii) the UE is not overheating OR (iv) a display device of the UE is on and unlocked.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Chow to the teaching of Daoud and Shi. The motivation for such would be as Chow provides a notable improvement to the communication system taught by Daoud that would allow the UE to better manage connections by implementing an expense system (Chow ¶0099). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Claims 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Daoud in view of Azizi et al. (CN 110301143 A), hereinafter Azizi.
Re. Claim 10, Daoud and Shi teach Claim 1.
Yet, neither Daoud nor Shi expressly teach wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises the UE is not in low power mode.
However, Azizi does explicitly teach wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises the UE is not in low power mode (Pg. 264, Line 28 - However, there may be certain operating scenarios in which the terminal device 13602 may restrict data delivery, which may affect data connections for applications 15908 and 15910. For example, if terminal device 13602 has low battery power (at power supply 13716), terminal device 13602 may throttle radio transmissions to reduce power consumption.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Azizi to the teaching of Daoud and Shi. The motivation for such would be as Azizi provides a notable improvement to the communication system taught by Daoud that would allow the UE to better manage changing connection by implementing a check for low power (Azizi Pg. 264, Line 28). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 11, Daoud and Shi teach claim 1.
Yet, neither Daoud nor Shi expressly teach wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises the UE is not overheating.
However, Azizi does explicitly teach wherein one of the first set of one or more conditions comprises the UE is not overheating (Pg. 264, Line 28 - However, there may be certain operating scenarios in which the terminal device 13602 may restrict data delivery, which may affect data connections for applications 15908 and 15910… In another example, if terminal device 13602 is overheated, terminal device 13602 may throttle a radio transmission to reduce the temperature of terminal device 13602).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Azizi to the teaching of Daoud and Shi. The motivation for such would be as Azizi provides a notable improvement to the communication system taught by Azizi that would allow the UE to better manage changing connection by implementing a check for overheating (Azizi Pg. 264, Line 28). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Response to Claim Amendments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 04/14/2025 with respect to Claims 1, 2 5-7 9-12 14 17-20 have been fully considered but are moot in view of a new ground of rejection. Applicant argues that the cited portions of Daud, as well as subsequent references cited in the non-final action fail to teach the newly amended sections of Claims 1 and 14. In light of the amendments to the claim, Examiner has Included the new reference of Shi et al. in order to address the newly added limitations. Examiner interprets Shi to expressly teach “when connection to the private enterprise deployed cellular network is prioritized, determine whether to connect to the private enterprise deployed cellular network or the Wi-Fi network based on a second set of one or more conditions” (Pg. 8, Line 22 - judge whether the network system of the current access network is better than the network system of another wireless data access network based on the pre-stored priority list of the network system of the WiFi and the cellular network… Pg. 5, Line 15 - automatically switching to the other wireless data access network so as to ensure that the user terminal is always accessed to the network with fast current internet speed). Examiner interprets that the “judg[ing] whether the network system is better” discloses Applicant’s “determining whether to connect to [an alternate] network, based on a second set of one or more conditions” when read in tandem with “switching to the other wireless data access network [to] ensure that the user terminal is always accessed to the network with fast current internet speed”. As such, the rejection for Claims 1 and 14 are maintained in light of the new grounds of rejection.
Additionally, Applicant argues that the connection does not need to be made just because it is prioritized is considered by Examiner. Examiner interprets the disclosure of Daud to show that a configuration profile may be provided either by default or by user (Fig. 4; 406, ¶0072 - Data/information 796 further includes the current state of WiFi setting for device 700, e.g., on or off based on user input of pre-configured settings of device 700). Further, Examiner directs Applicant to the flowchart of Fig. 5, where several different sets of configuration profiles are generated, prioritized based on system conditions and needs, selected and stored for use on later iterations. Fig. 5, element 532 shows that after the information request is configured, the system returns to the configuration profiles, including whether Wi-Fi or LTE should be used or prioritized, and selects a profile that best suits the current need. Examiner has also included the new reference of Shi for Applicant’s consideration, as Shi discloses a means of giving priority to certain connections in a list, and selecting the most beneficial connection regardless of priority (Pg. 8, Line 22 - judge whether the network system of the current access network is better than the network system of another wireless data access network based on the pre-stored priority list of the network system of the WiFi and the cellular network… ). As such, Examiner interprets that Daud and Shi together disclose the claimed language and respectfully does not find Applicant’s argument to be persuasive.
Claims 2, 5-7, 9-12, 17-20 have largely kept the same citations as the previously cited sections covered the new language. Applicant argues that both Chow and Azizi, used for claims 7-9, 19 and 20 and 10-11 respectively do not teach the amendment to Claim 1, to which Examiner agrees. However, Applicant also requests that due to these claims depending on Claims 1 or 14, that rejection is withdrawn. Examiner respectfully disagrees with this as the argument has been rendered moot in view of a new ground of rejection for Claims 1 and 14.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Baek et al. (2021/0297937) – Fig. 3, ¶0054-¶0059;
Fujishiro, Masato (EP 3979684) - ¶0052-¶0066;
Klatt, Axel (2024/0267850) – Fig. 2, ¶0027, ¶0081;
Muller et al. (2023/0129344) – Fig. 2, ¶0016-¶0024, ¶0037-¶0058;
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/N.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2472