DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the request sending time …… the response sending time " in claim 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Dependent claims of 5 (i.e. 5- 7) can be rejected based on same above rationale.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1- 4, 14 and 19- 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Hansson et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0253168).
Regarding claim 1, Hansson teaches a first computing device, the first computing device comprising: one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media that collectively store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first computing device to perform operations (see Fig. 2 wherein #responding node as a first computing device and #requesting node as a second computing device), the operations comprising:
transmitting, from the first computing device to a second computing device, a plurality of time synchronization requests; wherein the first computing device has a first internal clock associated with a first time domain and the second computing device includes a second internal clock associated with a second time domain (see Fig. 2 and also refer to abstract and [0036].. nodes 100, 102 have high accuracy clocks 201, 200 that are not synchronized with each other. High accuracy means that they are linear with respect to each other over a limited time period on the order of minutes, and that they have high resolution, at least to the level of 1 microsecond. That is, the clocks have different rates, but the rate difference is constant over time…; now refer to claim 19 regarding .. transmitting a synchronization requests to each of said requesting nodes…);
receiving, from the second computing device, a time synchronization response for each time synchronization request (see claim 19;.. transmitting a synchronization requests to each of said requesting nodes; transmitting by the requesting node, in response to a number of synchronization requests, a synchronization response to the responding node…);
calculating, for each time synchronization request, a round trip time for the request (see claim 19;… calculating at the responding node a round-trip delay measurement based on the synchronization response….);
determining an estimated clock skew between the first time domain and the second time domain based, at least in part, a minimum round-trip time from a plurality of calculated round trip times; estimating a one-way communication delay between the first computing device and the second computing device based, at least in part, on the time synchronization request, the time synchronization response, and the estimated clock skew between the first time domain and the second time domain (see claim 19 regarding .. calculating at the responding node a round-trip delay measurement based on the synchronization response and producing a latency profile for the requesting node….; in that regards see Fig. 6 regarding calculation of RTT (round-trip-time); see [0063] the Round-Trip-Time (RTT) 305 is calculated by subtracting T1 204 from T4 207 and further subtracting the delay to prepare the SyncRsp reply represented by the difference between T3 206 and T2 205. This yields the current RTT 305 value 604.;now refer to [0009] regarding a round trip time RT is calculated according to RT=T4−T1−(T3−T2), where T1 is the sending time from the first node, T2 is the receiving time at the second node, T3 is the sending time at the second node, and T4 is the receiving time at the first node. The updating of a synchronization point may include comparing the calculated round trip time with the stored minimum round trip time for the current synchronization point and, if less, updating the stored minimum round trip time with the calculated round trip time for the current synchronization point, and calculating an offset CDIFF according to CDIFF=(T2−T1+T3−T4)/2, where T1 is the sending time at the first node, T2 is the receiving time at the second node, T3 is the sending time at the second node, and T4 is the receiving time at the first node, and setting the absolute clock (CABS) value for the current synchronization point to T4. The storing of a new synchronization point in a synchronization window may include storing the minimum round trip time value (RTTMIN), storing the calculated offset (CDIFF), and storing the absolute clock value (CABS); now refer to [0010] regarding calculating skew value and refer to [0051] regarding using a skew value and also synchronization request/response (discussed above); latency is being calculate.).
Regarding claim 2, Hansson teaches as per claim 1, wherein a time synchronization request includes a request transmission time based on the first internal clock; see [0060]… . A synchronization session is established between each pair of nodes 100, 102. The synchronization session 106 is used to initially build a synchronization window 302 of at least 4 entries and up to 12 entries in order to hold synchronization points 301 to be used in the calculation of the synchronization line representing the virtual clock 104. At regular intervals, a burst 300 of synchronization requests are sent from the measurement responding node 100 that needs to setup a virtual clock 104 since it will handle measurement requests in measurement sessions 103 (once a virtual clock 104 is synchronized on the measurement responding node 100) for a measurement requesting node 102 (this is the node that will initiate a measurement session).
Regarding claim 3, Hansson teaches as per claim 2, wherein the time synchronization response includes a request reception time at which the corresponding time synchronization request was received and a response transmission time at which the time synchronization response was transmitted; see [0041- 0044] T4/T2 as a the time synchronization response and T1/T3 as a response transmission time at which the time synchronization response was transmitted.
Regarding claim 4, Hansson teaches as per claim 2, wherein the first computing device receives the time synchronization response at a response reception time; see [0041- 0044] T4.
Regarding claim 14, Hansson teaches as per claim 1, wherein the plurality of time synchronization requests are transmitted periodically; see [0092].. periodically sending measurement request messages…; further see claim 16 in context with claim 14.
Regarding claim 19, Hansson teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising (see Fig. 2 wherein #responding node as a first computing device and #requesting node as a second computing device):
transmitting, from a first computing device to a second computing device, a plurality of time synchronization requests; wherein the first computing device has a first internal clock associated with a first time domain and the second computing device includes a second internal clock associated with a second time domain (see Fig. 2 and also refer to abstract and [0036].. nodes 100, 102 have high accuracy clocks 201, 200 that are not synchronized with each other. High accuracy means that they are linear with respect to each other over a limited time period on the order of minutes, and that they have high resolution, at least to the level of 1 microsecond. That is, the clocks have different rates, but the rate difference is constant over time…; now refer to claim 19 regarding .. transmitting a synchronization requests to each of said requesting nodes…);
receiving, from the second computing device, a time synchronization response for each time synchronization request (see claim 19;.. transmitting a synchronization requests to each of said requesting nodes; transmitting by the requesting node, in response to a number of synchronization requests, a synchronization response to the responding node…);
calculating, for each time synchronization request, a round trip time for the time synchronization request (see claim 19;… calculating at the responding node a round-trip delay measurement based on the synchronization response….);
determining an estimated clock skew between the first time domain and the second time domain based, at least in part, a minimum round-trip time from a plurality of calculated round trip times; and estimating a one-way communication delay between the first computing device and the second computing device based, at least in part, on the time synchronization request, the time synchronization response, and the estimated clock skew between the first time domain and the second time domain (see claim 19 regarding .. calculating at the responding node a round-trip delay measurement based on the synchronization response and producing a latency profile for the requesting node….; in that regards see Fig. 6 regarding calculation of RTT (round-trip-time); see [0063] the Round-Trip-Time (RTT) 305 is calculated by subtracting T1 204 from T4 207 and further subtracting the delay to prepare the SyncRsp reply represented by the difference between T3 206 and T2 205. This yields the current RTT 305 value 604.;now refer to [0009] regarding a round trip time RT is calculated according to RT=T4−T1−(T3−T2), where T1 is the sending time from the first node, T2 is the receiving time at the second node, T3 is the sending time at the second node, and T4 is the receiving time at the first node. The updating of a synchronization point may include comparing the calculated round trip time with the stored minimum round trip time for the current synchronization point and, if less, updating the stored minimum round trip time with the calculated round trip time for the current synchronization point, and calculating an offset CDIFF according to CDIFF=(T2−T1+T3−T4)/2, where T1 is the sending time at the first node, T2 is the receiving time at the second node, T3 is the sending time at the second node, and T4 is the receiving time at the first node, and setting the absolute clock (CABS) value for the current synchronization point to T4. The storing of a new synchronization point in a synchronization window may include storing the minimum round trip time value (RTTMIN), storing the calculated offset (CDIFF), and storing the absolute clock value (CABS); now refer to [0010] regarding calculating skew value and refer to [0051] regarding using a skew value and also synchronization request/response (discussed above); latency is being calculate.).
Regarding claim 20, Hansson teaches one or more non-transitory computer-readable media that collectively store instructions that, when executed by a first computing device, cause the first computing device to perform operations, the operations comprising (see Fig. 2 wherein #responding node as a first computing device and #requesting node as a second computing device):
transmitting, from the first computing device to a second computing device, a plurality of time synchronization requests; wherein the first computing device has a first internal clock associated with a first time domain and the second computing device includes a second internal clock associated with a second time domain (see Fig. 2 and also refer to abstract and [0036].. nodes 100, 102 have high accuracy clocks 201, 200 that are not synchronized with each other. High accuracy means that they are linear with respect to each other over a limited time period on the order of minutes, and that they have high resolution, at least to the level of 1 microsecond. That is, the clocks have different rates, but the rate difference is constant over time…; now refer to claim 19 regarding .. transmitting a synchronization requests to each of said requesting nodes…);
receiving, from the second computing device, a time synchronization response for each time synchronization request (see claim 19;.. transmitting a synchronization requests to each of said requesting nodes; transmitting by the requesting node, in response to a number of synchronization requests, a synchronization response to the responding node…);
calculating, for each time synchronization request, a round trip time for the time synchronization request (see claim 19;… calculating at the responding node a round-trip delay measurement based on the synchronization response….);
determining an estimated clock skew between the first time domain and the second time domain based, at least in part, a minimum round-trip time from a plurality of calculated round trip times; and estimating a one-way communication delay between the first computing device and the second computing device based, at least in part, on the time synchronization request, the time synchronization response, and the estimated clock skew between the first time domain and the second time domain (see claim 19 regarding .. calculating at the responding node a round-trip delay measurement based on the synchronization response and producing a latency profile for the requesting node….; in that regards see Fig. 6 regarding calculation of RTT (round-trip-time); see [0063] the Round-Trip-Time (RTT) 305 is calculated by subtracting T1 204 from T4 207 and further subtracting the delay to prepare the SyncRsp reply represented by the difference between T3 206 and T2 205. This yields the current RTT 305 value 604.;now refer to [0009] regarding a round trip time RT is calculated according to RT=T4−T1−(T3−T2), where T1 is the sending time from the first node, T2 is the receiving time at the second node, T3 is the sending time at the second node, and T4 is the receiving time at the first node. The updating of a synchronization point may include comparing the calculated round trip time with the stored minimum round trip time for the current synchronization point and, if less, updating the stored minimum round trip time with the calculated round trip time for the current synchronization point, and calculating an offset CDIFF according to CDIFF=(T2−T1+T3−T4)/2, where T1 is the sending time at the first node, T2 is the receiving time at the second node, T3 is the sending time at the second node, and T4 is the receiving time at the first node, and setting the absolute clock (CABS) value for the current synchronization point to T4. The storing of a new synchronization point in a synchronization window may include storing the minimum round trip time value (RTTMIN), storing the calculated offset (CDIFF), and storing the absolute clock value (CABS); now refer to [0010] regarding calculating skew value and refer to [0051] regarding using a skew value and also synchronization request/response (discussed above); latency is being calculate.).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 8- 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hansson et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0253168) in view of Dotlic et al. (US Pub. No. 2024/0310510 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Hansson teaches as per claim 1, but fails to specifically state about wherein the first computing device is a smartwatch that is paired to the second computing device; however Dotlic in context with abstract and [0032- 0033] teaches in [0093] about … concepts described above may be implemented in various types of wireless communication devices or user elements 10, such as mobile terminals, smart watches, tablets, computers, navigation devices, access points, and the like that support wireless communications, such as cellular, wireless local area network (WLAN), Bluetooth, near-field communications, and ultra-wideband ranging. The user elements 10 will generally include a control system 12, a baseband processor 14 has memory that is configured to store executable instructions for the SS-TWR method 400… It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Dotlic with the teachings of Hansson to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 9, Hansson teaches as per claim 1, but fails to specifically state about wherein the second computing device is a smartphone; however Dotlic in context with abstract and [0032- 0033] teaches in [0093] about … concepts described above may be implemented in various types of wireless communication devices or user elements 10, such as mobile terminals, smart watches, tablets, computers, navigation devices, access points, and the like that support wireless communications, such as cellular, wireless local area network (WLAN), Bluetooth, near-field communications, and ultra-wideband ranging. The user elements 10 will generally include a control system 12, a baseband processor 14 has memory that is configured to store executable instructions for the SS-TWR method 400… It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Dotlic with the teachings of Hansson to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 10, Hansson teaches as per claim 1, but fails to specifically state about wherein the first computing device and the second computing device communicate using a wireless communication protocol; however Dotlic in context with abstract and [0032- 0033] teaches in [0093] about … concepts described above may be implemented in various types of wireless communication devices or user elements 10, such as mobile terminals, smart watches, tablets, computers, navigation devices, access points, and the like that support wireless communications, such as cellular, wireless local area network (WLAN), Bluetooth, near-field communications, and ultra-wideband ranging. The user elements 10 will generally include a control system 12, a baseband processor 14 has memory that is configured to store executable instructions for the SS-TWR method 400… It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Dotlic with the teachings of Hansson to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 11, Hansson in view of Dotlic states as per claim 10, wherein the wireless communication protocol has a low latency; Dotlic in context with abstract and [0032- 0033] teaches in [0093] about … concepts described above may be implemented in various types of wireless communication devices or user elements 10, such as mobile terminals, smart watches, tablets, computers, navigation devices, access points, and the like that support wireless communications, such as cellular, wireless local area network (WLAN), Bluetooth, near-field communications, and ultra-wideband ranging. The user elements 10 will generally include a control system 12, a baseband processor 14 has memory that is configured to store executable instructions for the SS-TWR method 400…
Regarding claim 12, Hansson in view of Dotlic states as per claim 11, wherein the wireless communication protocol is Bluetooth; Dotlic in context with abstract and [0032- 0033] teaches in [0093] about … concepts described above may be implemented in various types of wireless communication devices or user elements 10, such as mobile terminals, smart watches, tablets, computers, navigation devices, access points, and the like that support wireless communications, such as cellular, wireless local area network (WLAN), Bluetooth, near-field communications, and ultra-wideband ranging. The user elements 10 will generally include a control system 12, a baseband processor 14 has memory that is configured to store executable instructions for the SS-TWR method 400…
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hansson et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0253168) in view of Dotlic et al. (US Pub. No. 2024/0310510 A1) and further in view of Whited et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0055046 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Hansson in view of Dotlic teaches as per claim 11, but Hansson fails to specifically state about wherein the wireless communication protocol has a minimum latency of below 20 milliseconds; however Whited in context with [0276- 0283] teaches in [0148] about … hese devices need not alter their existing (legacy) networking logic to use the virtual server thus presented. A change of configuration settings may suffice. For example, an originator or target device may utilize conventional SIP or Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) applications for sending and receiving real-time media content over the virtual server formed by the multiple geographically dispersed individual servers. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Whited with the teachings of Hansson in view of Dotlic to make system more standardized.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hansson et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0253168) in view of Zeng et al. (EP 4550462 A1).
Regarding claim 15, Hansson teaches as per claim 11, but Hansson fails to states about wherein the communication link between the first computing device and the second computing device is initially in an idle mode and a first time synchronization request in the plurality of time synchronization requests causes the communication link between the first communication device and the second computing device to enter an active communication mode; Zeng states in [0170] about.. the device B sends the synchronization request to the device A, the device B may enter a synchronization state from the listening state…; now refer to [0172- 0173].. Specifically, after receiving the synchronization request sent by the device B, the device A in the initialized state may send the acknowledgment information to the device B. It may be understood that, after the device A sends the acknowledgment information to the device B, the device A may enter a connected state from the initialized state. In other words, the device A successfully establishes a connection to the device B; further see [0175].. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Zeng with the teachings of Hansson to make system more effective. Having a mechanism wherein the communication link between the first computing device and the second computing device is initially in an idle mode and a first time synchronization request in the plurality of time synchronization requests causes the communication link between the first communication device and the second computing device to enter an active communication mode; greater way resources can be managed/utilized to carry out more reliable communication can be carried out in the communication system.
Claim(s) 16- 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hansson et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0253168) in view of Zeng et al. (EP 4550462 A1) and further in view of Abedi et al. (US Pub. No. 2021/0288755 A1)
Regarding claim 16, Hansson in view of Zeng teaches as per claim 15, but Hansson fails to state about further comprising, prior to transmitting a first time synchronization request: receiving a query request from a user; in response receiving the query request from the user, generating a plurality of query packets, the plurality of query packets representing the query request from the user; and transmitting the plurality of query packets to the second computing device in sequence.; however Abedi states in Fig. 4 and [0055- 0056;] regarding .. In this embodiment, the host device 200 issues a query packet frame 206 (i.e. user request/query to #204), which includes a header 208 followed in sequence by, in this example, 8 sub-frames 210, of which only one is annotated. The individual headers of the sub-frames 210 are not shown. The host device 200 issues the query packet 206 with the intent to receive or pick up a message from electronic device 204, which in this example could be a temperature sensor. The header 208 is used by the receiving device 202 to perform channel estimation and internal configuration to decode data of the subsequent sub-frames 210 based on the CSI…; see [0055]. Now refer to [0056].. eight sub-frames 210 are transmitted as part of the query packet frame 206, and the data message from the electronic device 204 is eight bits in length and represents a temperature of 23° C. (i.e., 00010111). The first sub-frame 210 to be transmitted is sub-frame_0 appearing just to the right of header 208, and the last sub-frame 210 to be transmitted is sub-frame_7 appearing at the rightmost side (i.e. they are in sequence) of query packet frame 206…It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Abedi with the teachings of Hansson in view of Zeng to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 17, Hansson in view of Zeng and Abedi teaches as per claim 16, further comprising, after transmitting the plurality of query packets to the second computing device in sequence continuing to periodically transmit time synchronization requests such that the communication link between first computing device and the second computing device remains in the active communication mode; Hansson see [0035, 0038- 0039] regarding a predetermined message sequence which keeps active; further see [0092].
Regarding claim 18, Hansson in view of Zeng and Abedi teaches as per claim 16, wherein the first time synchronization request is transmitted before any query packets are transmitted such that the communication link between first computing device and the second computing device enters the active communication mode before the query packets are transmitted; Hansson see [0060].. in-going synchronization session 106 is schematically depicted. A synchronization session is established between each pair of nodes 100, 102. The synchronization session 106 is used to initially build a synchronization window 302 of at least 4 entries and up to 12 entries in order to hold synchronization points 301 to be used in the calculation of the synchronization line representing the virtual clock 104. At regular intervals, a burst 300 of synchronization requests are sent from the measurement responding node 100 that needs to setup a virtual clock 104 since it will handle measurement requests in measurement sessions 103 (once a virtual clock 104 is synchronized on the measurement responding node 100) for a measurement requesting node 102 (this is the node that will initiate a measurement session).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5- 7 are 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. Please see PTO-892 form for considered prior arts for record..
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PARTH PATEL
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2479
/PARTH PATEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2479