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
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 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 20240251264 A1) in view of Ni (CN 106597363).
For claim 1, Lin discloses a system for optimal location determination of a mesh node in a Wi-Fi network (FIGs. 1 and 7-8 and associated text, such as “[0016] … throughput can be used to determine the optimal location for wireless devices (e.g., a router or mesh node) connected to the network ...” and “[0018] … the device 102 and the device 104 include Wi-Fi devices …”), the system comprising:
a memory that stores computer-executable instructions; and a processor that executes the computer-executable instructions and causes the processor (the memory and processor of a device in the system) to:
receive information regarding a number and location of one or more user hotspots (FIG. 7 in view of [0060] … a satellite device, such as first satellite device 716A, may be configured to facilitate communication between electronic devices (e.g., personal computers, mobile phones, wearable items) and a network. For example, in an embodiment, first satellite device 716A is configured to communicate with computer program 710 on electronic device 712. …”; note that 712 is a hotspot and identifying hotspots includes gathering a number and locations of hotspots);
receive information regarding an initial position of a router with respect to the one or more user hotspots (“[0057] To address the inconsistent coverage of an electronic device to connect to a wireless network, a network-accessible server system may establish a geographical location of the network access device and a geographical location of an electronic device and determine that the geographical location of the network access device and the geographical location of the electronic device are within a predetermined proximity of one another. In some embodiments, establishing the geographical location of the electronic device includes examining an IP address of the network access device. …”; note establishing a geographical location suggests receiving initial position);
(“[0059] In an embodiment, the environment 700 may include a network access device 702, a computer program 710 executing on an electronic device 712 (e.g., wireless device), a network-accessible server system 704, and at least one satellite device (e.g., 716A-N from a pool of satellite devices 735). It should be appreciated that a typical networked environment (e.g., house, building) may have one or two satellite devices. …”);
receive information regarding an initial position of a mesh node with respect to the one or more user hotspots (“[0057] To address the inconsistent coverage of an electronic device to connect to a wireless network, a network-accessible server system may establish a geographical location of the network access device and a geographical location of an electronic device and determine that the geographical location of the network access device and the geographical location of the electronic device are within a predetermined proximity of one another. In some embodiments, establishing the geographical location of the electronic device includes examining an IP address of the network access device. …”; note establishing a geographical location suggests receiving initial position);
(“[0059] In an embodiment, the environment 700 may include a network access device 702, a computer program 710 executing on an electronic device 712 (e.g., wireless device), a network-accessible server system 704, and at least one satellite device (e.g., 716A-N from a pool of satellite devices 735). It should be appreciated that a typical networked environment (e.g., house, building) may have one or two satellite devices. …”);
perform benchmark throughput tests with one or more Wi-Fi enabled devices in at least one of the one or more user hotspots, wherein the benchmark throughput tests of the one or more Wi-Fi enabled devices are performed at a plurality of known distances from the mesh node by moving the mesh node between consecutive throughput tests (FIG. 10 and the associated text, such as “[0107] FIG. 10 illustrates an example method 1000 for estimating throughput for a wireless device. …”);
display a mapping of throughput test data at all of the one or more user hotspots with respect to various testing positions of the mesh node (FIGs.1-4 and 10 and the associated text, such as “[0029] … The throughput estimate is communicated to a user of the wireless device, for example, on a display of the wireless device or through a speaker of the wireless device.”); and
notify of an optimal position of the mesh node for throughput signal strength in the one or more user hotspots based on the throughput test data (“[0016]”).
Lin is silent but Ni, in the same field of endeavor of data communication, discloses: recommend moving the mesh node a distance and direction to improve benchmark throughput test results with the one or more Wi-Fi enabled devices in at least one of the one or more user hotspots; reperform the benchmark throughput tests of the one or more Wi-Fi enabled devices in at least one of the one or more user hotspots with the mesh node moved the recommended distance and direction (p10, 1st para “RSSI device receives the wireless signal of a certain AP strength indication at a certain position … The reason for introducing the concept of RSSI change index, mainly because the experiment shows that, although the RSSI signal when collecting pedestrian move the value exhibits a relatively large uncertainty in the indoor complex environments. but the RSSI signal or wireless signal itself increases along the distance attenuation characteristic, so the same direction if the pedestrian relative distance of the AP is continuously increased, the RSSI signal measured in the moving process of the most performance out orderly fading phenomenon, conversely, when the pedestrian movement distance in a certain direction a certain AP is continuously reduced, the pedestrian measured RSSI parts can exhibit a phenomenon of increase in turn in the moving process”; teaching RSSI of the wireless devices hold by the pedestrian being improved by movement of distances and directions). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Ni above to the wireless device in the system by Lin to yield a predictable result of obtaining optimal location for wireless device because better RSSI yielding better throughput.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine Lin and Ni for the benefit of obtaining optimal location of a network access/hotspot device for best throughput ([0029] of Lin).
Claim 10 is rejected because it is a method that is performed by the system of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
Claim 19 is rejected because it is a broaden version of claim 1 by excluding claim limitation “receive information regarding an initial position of a router with respect to the one or more user hotspots;” and replacing “receive” with “obtain”; and is rejected in the similar fashion as claim 1.
As to claims 2 and 11, Lin in view of Ni discloses claims 1 and 10, Lin further discloses: wherein the memory further includes computer-executable instructions that further cause the processor to identify a size and shape of each user hotspot in the one or more user hotspots (FIG. 7 and the associated text, such as [0065] teaches that all the information of a hotspot 712, which includes the size and shape hotspot 712. Examiner takes an official notice on this statement (e.g., it disclosed by US 20180301793 “[0012] … The size and shape of the mobile hotspot can allow the mobile hotspot to be carried by a user …”).
As to claims 3 and 12, Lin in view of Ni discloses claims 1 and 10, Lin further discloses: wherein the memory further includes computer-executable instructions that further cause the processor to perform one or more of: obtain Bluetooth readings to assist with mesh node placement (FIG. 7 and the associated text, such as [0067] “… [0067] Upon activation, second satellite device 716B electronically communicates with electronic device 720, which is within a predetermined range or proximity, by way of short-range wireless communication protocol, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) …”), obtain Global Positioning System (GPS) readings to assist with mesh node placement (using GPS for node placement is well known in the art, Examiner takes an official notice on this statement; e.g., it disclosed by US 20180301793 “[0096] … each WhiteHaul node is also equipped with a GPS receiver to facilitate localization and time synchronization), and obtain local positioning system readings to assist with mesh node placement (as disclosed by the parent claims with optimal position).
As to claims 4 and 13, Lin in view of Ni discloses claims 1 and 10, Ni further discloses: wherein the system recommends router movement for signal strength optimization with respect to the one or more user hotspots (p10, 1st para “RSSI device receives the wireless signal of a certain AP strength indication at a certain position …” in view of the parent claim with optimal position). The motivation of combining Lin and Ni is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claims 5 and 14, Lin in view of Ni discloses claims 1 and 10, Ni further discloses: wherein the system recommends signal strength optimization for a highest minimum throughput across all of the one or more user hotspots (p10, 1st para “RSSI device receives the wireless signal of a certain AP strength indication at a certain position …” in view of the parent claim and obviousness based on design incentives according MPEP 2143(F)). The motivation of combining Lin and Ni is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claims 6 and 15, Lin in view of Ni discloses claims 1 and 10, Lin further discloses: wherein the system receives information regarding priority levels of the one or more user hotspots, and wherein the system recommends signal strength optimization for peak throughput at the user hotspot with a highest priority level (“[0036] … the resources are allocated based on priority (e.g., based on time or importance). …” in view the parent claims).
As to claims 7 and 16, Lin in view of Ni discloses claims 1 and 10, Lin further discloses: wherein the mapping of throughput test data with respect to various locations of the mesh node is a signal throughput strength heat map (using a signal strength heat map to express throughput is well known in the art. Examiner takes an official notice on this statement; e.g., FIG. 6 in view of “[0096] FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative process 600 for generating a signal strength heat map … [0098] At 620, the mobile devices gathers end-to-end throughput data in its vicinity”).
As to claims 8 and 17, Lin in view of Ni discloses claims 1 and 10, Ni further discloses: recommending that an additional mesh node be added to maintain a highest minimum throughput across all of the one or more user hotspots, and recommending an optimal location of the additional mesh node to be added (p10, 1st para “RSSI device receives the wireless signal of a certain AP strength indication at a certain position …” in view of the parent claim and obviousness based on design incentives according MPEP 2143(F)). The motivation of combining Lin and Ni is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claims 9 and 18, Lin in view of Ni discloses claims 1 and 10, Lin further discloses: wherein the memory further includes computer-executable instructions that further cause the processor to:
recommend further moving the mesh node a distance and direction to improve benchmark throughput test results with the one or more Wi-Fi enabled devices in the one or more user hotspots (FIGs. 1 and 7-8 and associated text, such as “[0018] … the device 102 and the device 104 include Wi-Fi devices …” in view of the parent claims); and
additionally, reperform the benchmark throughput tests of the one or more Wi-Fi enabled devices in the one or more user hotspots with the mesh node further moved the recommended distance and direction (FIGs. 1-10 and associated text, such as “[0107] FIG. 10 illustrates an example method 1000 for estimating throughput for a wireless device. …” in view of the parent claims).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-6pm.
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/JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462