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 Status
This office action is in response to the communication(s) filed on 02/13/2024.
Claim(s) 1-27 is/are currently presenting for examination.
Claim(s) 1, 14, and 27 is/are independent claim(s).
Claim(s) 1-27 is/are rejected.
This action has been made NON-FINAL.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-20, and 22-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US_20210337594_A1_Xin in view of US_20240040612_A1_Xue.
Regarding claim 1, Xin discloses a method comprising: at a first wireless station: transmitting first communications from the first wireless station, the first communications indicating that the first wireless station supports customization of data delivery classes associated with conveyance of wireless communications (Xin figure 6, steps 82-84, the Non-AP STA sends a ADDRTATS request to the AP, paragraph 41, “To reduce RTA packet latency caused by the queue system, the present disclosure adds at least one new transmit queue in the EDCA queue system which is dedicated for RTA packets only. The task of adding an RTA transmit queue in the EDCA queue system is more challenging due to the coexistence of the RTA traffic and non-RTA traffic…”, paragraph 168, “…creating a new EDCA function (EDCAF) for the new access class (AC) transmit queue for RTA packets wherein the RTA queue is able to contend for the channel before expected RTA packets arrive”); and receiving second communications from a second wireless station in response to the second wireless station receiving the first communications, the second communications indicating that the second wireless station supports the customization of the data delivery classes (Xin figure 6, steps 88-90, the AP sends a ADDRTATS response to the Non-AP STA, paragraph 105, “When the RTA-TS is setup, the traffic can be classified by matching the TCLAS information of the RTA-TS. When the traffic belongs to an RTA-TS, it is RTA traffic. The user priority of the RTA traffic can be indicated by the RTA-TS which the traffic belongs to…”), but does not explicitly discloses conveyance of wireless communications via a listen-before-talk access function.
Xue discloses conveyance of wireless communications via a listen-before-talk access function (Xue paragraph 72, “…As such, the UE 115-a and UE 115-b pair may be starved out in terms of channel access, while each surrounding Wi-Fi device 205 may acquire ⅙ of the airtime due to running a same floating LBT-based channel access technique. For example, a Wi-Fi AP or STA may immediately occupy a channel following a successful LBT procedure (such as a Type 1 LBT procedure)…”).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Xue’s the Wi-Fi devices may acquire a channel following a successful LBT procedure in Xin’s system to ensure the spectrum is clear, thereby preventing packet collisions, minimizing interference with other devices. This method for improving the system of Xin was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Xue. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Xin and Xue to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 1, and Xin further discloses wherein the second communications received from the second wireless station include a message to implement a custom set of data delivery queues instead of a default set of data delivery queues for third communications transmitted from the first wireless station to the second wireless station (Xin figure 6, steps 88-90, the AP sends a ADDRTATS response to the Non-AP STA, paragraph 168, “…creating a new EDCA function (EDCAF) for the new access class (AC) transmit queue for RTA packets wherein the RTA queue is able to contend for the channel before expected RTA packets arrive”).
Regarding claim 3, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 1, and Xin further discloses further comprising: subsequent to receiving the second communications, establishing a first configuration of the data delivery classes at the second wireless station to control transmission of data packets wirelessly communicated from the second wireless station to the first wireless station (Xin figure 7, LL AC 132, paragraphs 107-110, “…When RTA and non-RTA traffic (i.e., MSDU as shown in the figure) arrive, traffic is mapped to a transmit queue based on the user priority (UP) and the RTA information…”).
Regarding claim 4, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 3, and Xin further discloses wherein establishing the first configuration of the data delivery classes includes: transmitting a configuration message from the first wireless station to the second wireless station, the configuration message indicating attributes of the data delivery classes associated with the first configuration (Xin paragraph 97, “…The receiver STA should continue the RTA-TS setup procedure and set the same parameters of RTA-TSPEC element in its ADDRTATS Request frame”, and paragraph 103).
Regarding claim 5, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 4, and Xin further discloses wherein the first configuration of the data delivery classes is a substitute to a default set of data delivery classes to communicate in an uplink direction from the second wireless station to the first wireless station (Xin paragraph 86, “A Direction subfield is used by the STA which sets this subfield to indicate whether the direction of data transmission of the RTA-TS is uplink, downlink, direct link or bidirectional link…”, and paragraph 168,”…creating a new EDCA function (EDCAF) for the new access class (AC) transmit queue for RTA packets wherein the RTA queue is able to contend for the channel before expected RTA packets arrive.”, and figure 7, the new LL AC 132).
Regarding claim 6, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 1, and Xin further discloses further comprising: at the first wireless station: i) receiving multiple data packets destined for delivery over a wireless channel to the second wireless station (Xin figures 7, 8A, 8B, 12, RTA packets transmission), and ii) scheduling the multiple data packets for transmission over the wireless channel in accordance with a customized implementation of the data delivery classes (Xin figures 7, 8A, 8B, 12, RTA packets transmission), and paragraph 63, “…When an AP receives this field, it can use this field to schedule transmissions to satisfy the QoS requirement of this TS…”), and Xue further discloses the wireless channel acquirable via the listen-before-talk access function (Xue paragraph 72, “…As such, the UE 115-a and UE 115-b pair may be starved out in terms of channel access, while each surrounding Wi-Fi device 205 may acquire ⅙ of the airtime due to running a same floating LBT-based channel access technique. For example, a Wi-Fi AP or STA may immediately occupy a channel following a successful LBT procedure (such as a Type 1 LBT procedure)…”).
Regarding claim 7, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 1, further comprising: at the first wireless station: establishing at least one data delivery queue for each of the multiple data delivery classes associated with the conveyance of the wireless communications from the first wireless station to the second wireless station; receiving multiple data packets destined for delivery to the second wireless station; and storing each corresponding data packet of the multiple data packets in a respective data delivery queue of the multiple data delivery queues depending on a priority level determined for the corresponding data packet (Xin figures 7).
Regarding claim 9, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 1, and Xin further discloses wherein the second communications are received at the first wireless station during association of the second wireless station with the first wireless station (Xin figure 6, and paragraph 49, “…non-AP stations associated with the first AP…”).
Regarding claim 10, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 1, and Xin further discloses wherein the data delivery classes associated with the customization include X data delivery classes, where X is an integer value (Xin figure 7, LL, VO, VI, BE, and BK are the customization data delivery classes, and X=5); and wherein the first wireless station and the second wireless station implement Y default data delivery classes prior to implementing the X data delivery classes, where Y is an integer value (Xin figure 1, VO, VI, BE, and BK are the default data delivery classes, and Y=4).
Regarding claim 11, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 10, and Xin further discloses wherein the integer value X data delivery classes associated with the customization is greater than the integer value Y default data delivery classes (Xin figure 7, LL, VO, VI, BE, and BK are the new customization data delivery classes, and X=5, and figure 1, while the VO, VI, BE, and BK are the default data delivery classes, and Y=4).
Regarding claim 12, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 1, and Xin further discloses further comprising: in response to receiving the second communications, establishing a customized set of data delivery classes to support the conveyance of the wireless communications from the first wireless station to the second wireless station (Xin figure 7, and paragraphs 105-110, LL, VO, VI, BE, and BK data delivery classes); and implementing a first processing layer in a multi-layer protocol stack to process each of multiple received data packets for storage in the customized set of data delivery classes (Xin figure 7), the first processing layer being disposed between a MAC processing layer and an application processing layer in the multi-layer protocol stack (Xin figure 7, and paragraph 11, “prior to the arrival of the RTA packets from the higher levels of the protocol (e.g., application layer)”. And the queues are in MAC layer).
Regarding claim 13, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 1, and Xin further discloses wherein the first wireless station is initially configured to implement a first data delivery class configuration of prioritizing a flow of conveying messages from the first wireless station to the second wireless station over a wireless channel, the first data delivery class configuration being a default data delivery class configuration (Xin figure 1, VO, VI, BE, and BK are the default data delivery classes), the method further comprising: in response to receiving the second communications from the second wireless station, implementing a second data delivery class configuration to convey multiple data packets destined for delivery from the first wireless station to the second wireless station, the second data delivery class configuration being different than the first data delivery class configuration (Xin figure 6, steps 88-90, the AP sends a ADDRTATS response to the Non-AP STA, paragraph 105, “When the RTA-TS is setup, the traffic can be classified by matching the TCLAS information of the RTA-TS. When the traffic belongs to an RTA-TS, it is RTA traffic. The user priority of the RTA traffic can be indicated by the RTA-TS which the traffic belongs to…” The LL data access class is corresponding to the claimed “second data delivery class”).
Regarding claim 14, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 1, and an apparatus comprising: communication management hardware associated with a first wireless station (Xin figures 2-3, paragraph 158).
Regarding claim 15, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 16, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 3.
Regarding claim 17, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 4.
Regarding claim 18, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 5.
Regarding claim 19, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 6.
Regarding claim 20, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 7.
Regarding claim 22, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 9.
Regarding claim 23, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 10.
Regarding claim 24, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 11.
Regarding claim 25, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 12.
Regarding claim 26, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 13.
Regarding claim 27, Xin and Xue disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 1, and Computer-readable storage hardware having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when carried out by computer processor hardware (Xin figures 2-3, paragraph 158).
Claim(s) 8 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US_20210337594_A1_Xin in view of US_20240040612_A1_Xue and US_20260020056_A1_Liu
Regarding claim 8, Xin and Xue disclose the method as in claim 7, and Xin further discloses further comprising: detecting a first data packet stored in a first data delivery queue of the multiple data delivery queues; obtaining a first contention window value associated with the first data delivery queue (Xin figures 8A, 10-12, contention window CW), in response to detecting CCA idle as specified by the first contention window, wirelessly transmitting the first data packet over the wireless channel from the first wireless station to the second wireless station (Xin figure 10, initial RTA packet transmission 254), but does not disclose detecting that wireless energy detected in the wireless channel is below a wireless energy threshold level for a time duration to define CCA idle.
Liu discloses detecting that wireless energy detected in the wireless channel is below a wireless energy threshold level for a time duration to define CCA idle (Liu paragraph 48, “…FIG. 2 shows that CCA slot may have a duration T.sub.sl=9 us, where the energy sensing takes place during 4 us. The UE deems the channel as available in a CCA slot if the measured power (i.e. the collected energy during the CCA slot) is below a regulatory specified threshold which may depend on the operating band and geographical region”).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Liu’s The UE deems the channel as available in a CCA slot if the measured power is below a regulatory specified threshold in Xin and Xue’s system to prevent interference with other devices. This method for improving the system of Xin and Xue was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Liu. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Xin, Xue and Liu to obtain the invention as specified in claim 8.
Regarding claim 21, Xin, Xue and Liu disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WEIBIN HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3695. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30AM - 6:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571)272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/W.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471