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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1:
(1)”populating a CAM … with stations and a VLAN group associated with each station” is indefinite. It is unclear whether the “stations” and “each station” recited here belong to the earlier recited group of “[monitored] stations that join and leave …”, or otherwise.
(2)”detecting … for a specific VLAN group” is indefinite because it is unclear whether the “a specific VLAN group” recited here is one of the “VLAN group associated with each station” recited earlier in the claim.
(3)”by at the one or more access points,” would appear to be a typographical error; this recitation should probably read, instead, ”at the one or more access points, by”.
Claim 2 is rejected as indefinite due to its dependence from indefinite parent claim 1, and further because claim 2 does not provide the necessary clarification to obviate the indefiniteness of claim 1.
Claim 3: please see indefiniteness rejection for claim 1 above.
Claim 4:
(1)”populating a CAM … with stations and a VLAN group associated with each station” is indefinite. It is unclear whether the “stations” and “each station” recited here belong to the earlier recited group of “[monitored] stations that join and leave …”, or otherwise.
(2)”detecting … for a specific VLAN group” is indefinite because it is unclear whether the “a specific VLAN group” recited here is one of the “VLAN group associated with each station” recited earlier in the claim.
(3)”by at the one or more access points,” would appear to be a typographical error; this recitation should probably read, instead, ”at the one or more access points, by”.
(4)”a stations” would appear to be a typographical error.
(5)Please note that the introduction of the claim recites a “memory … storing:”, which would necessitate that the subject matter following this “storing” be data or information that may be “stor[ed]”. However, following this recited act of “storing”, the claim recites “a stations …”, “populating …”, “detecting …” and “segregating …”, which are either a method, an action, a step consisting of an action, or a typographical error; that is, none of the subject matter recited after the step of “storing” is clearly data or information that can be properly “stor[ed]”. Clarification is required.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0049703 A1 to Kneckt et al.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0394056 A1 to Xie et al.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0192661 A1 to Hamamoto et al.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0261138 A1 to Thubert et al.
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/CHI TANG P CHENG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463