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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/06/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, filed on 03/06/2026, have been fully considered but they are moot in view of new ground(s).
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.
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) 1-3, 9, 11, 17-18, and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vig et al. (US 20240049217) in view of Khaled (US 11646935).
Regarding claim 1, Vig discloses a root access point (RAP), comprising:
one or more interface circuits configured to communicate with one or more mesh access points (MAPs) via two or more concurrent mesh links in a mesh network (Fig. 1; MLD controller 110; [0022]), wherein the RAP is configured to:
communicate, via a first mesh link in the two or more concurrent mesh links, first packets or first frames with the one or more MAPs, wherein the first mesh link uses a first band of frequencies, and wherein the first packets or first frames have a first priority (multi-links connection comprises a 2.4 GHz frequency band, a 5 GHz frequency band, and a 6 GHz frequency band. Association is only over one link, which also contains information about the other links, although all links can be used for data transport. Priority traffic is typically sent over the 6 GHz frequency band, as this is typically a better or best affiliated link according to the TID mapping; [0022]);
communicate, via a second mesh link in the two or more concurrent mesh links, second packets or second frames with the one or more MAPs, wherein the second mesh link uses a second band of frequencies that is different from the first band of frequencies, wherein the second packets or second frames have a second priority that is less than the first priority (FIG. 2B, the TID to link mapping for the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz bands are 0,1,2,3, which is low priority traffic, whereas the TID to link mapping for the 6 GHz band is 4,5,6,7, which is high priority traffic; [0034]), and
wherein the RAP is configured to receive, associated with a controller of the RAP or a computer, information that specifies the first priority and the second priority, and the information is received before traffic flows comprising the first packets or first frames and the second packets or second frames begin (TID is represented as a four-bit number (0˜7) identifying the desired quality of service (QoS) for the traffic. In multi-link operations, the TID is used to determine which link(s) to use for traffic with a specific QoS, wherein a specific TID being mapped to a set of links means that any link within that set can be used to transmit data from that TID. FIG. 2B, the TID to link mapping for the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz bands are 0,1,2,3, which is low priority traffic, whereas the TID to link mapping for the 6 GHz band is 4,5,6,7, which is high priority traffic; [0033-0034]).
Vig does not expressly disclose a root access point communicates with one or more electronic devices in a wired network; report, by the RAP, first data associated with the RAP and second data associated with the one or more MAPs to a cloud-based computer configured to generate feedback by a machine-learning model that learns using the first data and the second data; receive the feedback from the cloud-based computer; and allocate additional ones of the two or more concurrent mesh links in addition to the first mesh link and the second mesh link based on the feedback.
In an analogous art, Khalid discloses a root access point communicates with one or more electronic devices in a wired network (network controller 130 that automatically manages, via (wireless or wireline) control links 132, the configurations of the routers 112 to support particular paths through the mesh network 110. The network controller 130 communicates with the end nodes 120 via (wireless or wireline) communication links 134 to determine the end nodes' bandwidth needs through the mesh network 110; Col. 3);
report, by the RAP, first data associated with the RAP and second data associated with the one or more MAPs to a cloud-based computer configured to generate feedback by a machine-learning model that learns using the first data and the second data (network controller 130 monitors the status of the mesh network 110 by receiving and processing information from the routers 112 via links 132. The network monitoring of step 320 involves querying the routers 112 for performance, CPU usage, loading, etc.; Col. 4-5
network controller 130, which is aware of the settings on the previously existing routers 112, will determine the best paths based on the learnings of the past of optimum paths determined using suitable routing and/or traffic protocols. The network controller 130 determines the configurations to be implemented based on artificial intelligence/machine learning (Al/ML); Col. 6);
receive the feedback from the cloud-based computer; and allocate additional ones of the two or more concurrent mesh links in addition to the first mesh link and the second mesh link based on the feedback (network controller 130 determines how to modify the previous configuration of the now-augmented mesh network 110 including determining one or more new paths through the newly added software-based routers 112 to accommodate the additional system load. If any of the new paths determined in step 308 do involve any of the previously existing routers 112, then those routers 112 may also need to be taken into account when performing steps 312-318. In step 312, the network controller 130 generates the configuration commands necessary to configure the routers 112 in the augmented mesh network 110 to support the paths determined in step 308; Col. 6-7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Khaled into the system of Vig in order to automatically provision mesh network resources if the system load increases (Khaled; Col. 2).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Vig and Khaled, particularly Vig discloses wherein the first band of frequencies comprises a 6 GHz band of frequencies, and the second band of frequencies comprises a 2.4 or 5 GHz band of frequencies (Fig. 2A).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Vig and Khaled, particularly Khaled discloses wherein the one or more MAPs comprises two MAPs (Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Khaled into the system of Vig in order to automatically provision mesh network resources if the system load increases (Khaled; Col. 2).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Vig and Khaled, particularly Vig discloses wherein the information is associated with communication performance metrics associated with the traffic flows (the controller configures the associated thresholds for a number of parameters, and sends these to all agents within the network for monitoring. These parameters include link quality measurements (such as RSSI) used to determine whether a link is operating at optimal or sub-optimal performance. A first threshold configured by the controller is a minimum Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) threshold for link usage operation, which is the minimum RSSI at which a link can be used to send traffic. A second threshold is the Packet Error Rate (PER), and a third threshold is the Link Rate. These parameters are used when a new link needs to be evaluated, resulting in a change in traffic identifier (TID) mapping; [0024]).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Vig and Khaled, particularly Vig discloses wherein the RAP is configured to receive, associated with a controller of the RAP or a computer, second information that specifies the first mesh link and the second mesh link (If RSSI of an operating band goes below the threshold, this indicates that the link has become sub-optimal. In addition, CU of a particular frequency band exceeding the threshold also indicates the link has become sub-optimal. If RSSI, PER and Link Rate all equal or go above their respective thresholds, this indicates that a previously sub-optimal link has become optimal, and the controller must perform further evaluation; [0025]).
Regarding claim 17, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 1.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 2.
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Vig and Khaled, particularly Vig discloses wherein the first priority is specified by an access category associated with the first packets or first frames and the second priority is specified by a second access category associated with the second packets or second frames (TID to link mapping for the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz bands are 0,1,2,3, which is low priority traffic, whereas the TID to link mapping for the 6 GHz band is 4,5,6,7, which is high priority traffic; [0034]).
Regarding claim 22, the combination of Vig and Khaled, particularly Vig discloses wherein the method comprises receiving, associated with a controller of the RAP or a computer, second information that specifies the first mesh link and the second mesh link (MLD agent 1 also sends updated PER and Link Rate values, so the controller can identify the priority of better or best links. As shown in FIG. 3B, the new priority is 6 GHz>5 GHz>2.4 GHz; therefore, high priority traffic is mapped to the 6 GHz frequency band. The controller then provides the MLD agent 1 with the new TID to link mapping. If no better link is found, there will be no change in the TID to link mapping; [0036]).
Regarding claim 23, the combination of Vig and Khaled, particularly Khaled discloses wherein the machine-learning model comprises a pretrained machine-learning model that was initially trained using a training dataset associated with the first priority and the second priority, types of applications, and/or communication-performance metrics (network controller 130 also implements artificial intelligence/machine learning (Al/ML) 240 to assist in its operations. Such Al/ML processing may be used to keep track of previously configured paths through the mesh network 110 for possible re-use in supporting newly added network traffic; Col. 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Khaled into the system of Vig in order to automatically provision mesh network resources if the system load increases (Khaled; Col. 2).
Regarding claim 24, the combination of Vig and Khaled, particularly Khaled discloses wherein mesh-network-management heuristics for the machine-learning model are determined based at least in part on data associated with the traffic flows (network controller 130 also implements artificial intelligence/machine learning (Al/ML) 240 to assist in its operations. Such Al/ML processing may be used to keep track of previously configured paths through the mesh network 110 for possible re-use in supporting newly added network traffic; Col. 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Khaled into the system of Vig in order to automatically provision mesh network resources if the system load increases (Khaled; Col. 2).
Regarding claim 25, the combination of Vig and Khaled, particularly Khaled discloses wherein the machine-learning model is dynamically retrained based on the traffic flows (network controller 130, which is aware of the settings on the previously existing routers 112, will determine the best paths based on the learnings of the past of optimum paths determined using suitable routing and/or traffic protocols. The network controller 130 determines the configurations to be implemented based on artificial intelligence/machine learning (Al/ML) (240 of FIG. 2) and mapping of conditions to configurations; Col. 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Khaled into the system of Vig in order to automatically provision mesh network resources if the system load increases (Khaled; Col. 2).
Claim(s) 4-6, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vig et al. (US 20240049217) in view of Khaled (US 11646935) and in view of Chennichetty et al. (US 20210120454).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Vig and Khaled does not expressly disclose wherein the first priority is associated with a first type of application and the second priority is associated with a second type of application that is different from the first type of application.
In an analogous art, Chennichetty discloses wherein the first priority is associated with a first type of application and the second priority is associated with a second type of application that is different from the first type of application (TID indicates the priority level of the data, and thus may be mapped to a corresponding AC. data may be assigned to one of four ACs: the highest priority data (such as voice data) may be assigned to a first access category (AC_VO); the second highest priority data (such as video data) may be assigned to a second access category (AC_VI); [0067-0068]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Chennichetty into the system of Vig and Khaled in order to optimize the service needs of the wireless devices within the network by employing profile-based steering of wireless devices within a multi-AP environment (Chennichetty; [0047]).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Vig, Chennichetty, and Khaled, particularly Chennichetty discloses wherein the first type of application comprises voice, video or file download (TID indicates the priority level of the data, and thus may be mapped to a corresponding AC. data may be assigned to one of four ACs: the highest priority data (such as voice data) may be assigned to a first access category (AC_VO); the second highest priority data (such as video data) may be assigned to a second access category (AC_VI); [0067-0068]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Chennichetty into the system of Vig and Khaled in order to optimize the service needs of the wireless devices within the network by employing profile-based steering of wireless devices within a multi-AP environment (Chennichetty; [0047]).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Vig and Khaled does not expressly disclose wherein the first priority is specified by an access category associated with the first packets or first frames and the second priority is specified by a second access category associated with the second packets or second frames.
In an analogous art, Chennichetty discloses wherein the first priority is specified by an access category associated with the first packets or first frames and the second priority is specified by a second access category associated with the second packets or second frames (“access category” refers to data that may be queued together or aggregated according to priority level. The priority level of packets or of a flow to which the packets belong may indicate an importance of such packets relative to packets belonging to other flows. For example, higher priority traffic may be given more frequent access to the shared wireless medium, longer access to the shared wireless medium, or a greater portion of the available bandwidth of the shared wireless medium than lower-priority traffic; [0034]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Chennichetty into the system of Vig and Khaled in order to optimize the service needs of the wireless devices within the network by employing profile-based steering of wireless devices within a multi-AP environment (Chennichetty; [0047]).
Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 4.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 5.
Claim(s) 8 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vig et al. (US 20240049217) in view of in view of Khaled (US 11646935) and in view of Gunasekara et al. (US 20170347357).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Vig and Khaled does not expressly disclose wherein the information is associated with the traffic flows between the one or more electronic devices and the RAP; and wherein a first traffic flow in the traffic flows comprises the first packets or first frames and second traffic flow in the traffic flows comprises the second packets or second frames.
In an analogous art, Gunasekara discloses wherein the information is associated with the traffic flows between the one or more electronic devices and the RAP; and wherein a first traffic flow in the traffic flows comprises the first packets or first frames and second traffic flow in the traffic flows comprises the second packets or second frames (each of the computer devices 250 can be assigned to a respective class of service (COS). Assume in this example that there are four possible classes of service such as class of service #1, class of service #2, class of service #3, and class of service #4. Each class can support a different downlink data rate. management resource 140 allocates use of wireless bandwidth available in mesh network 291 to wireless communication link 228-1 and wireless communication link 228-2 based on one or more parameters such as number of users, class of service, etc. The class of service information for each of the subscribers can be retrieved from any suitable resource; [0076-0078]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Gunasekara into the system of Vig and Khaled in order to provide greater fairness of servicing multiple clients in a mesh network (Gunasekara; [0010]).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Vig and Khaled does not expressly disclose wherein the communication of the first packets or the first frames and the second packets or second frames may be compatible with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 communication protocol.
In an analogous art, Gunasekara discloses wherein the communication of the first packets or the first frames and the second packets or second frames may be compatible with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 communication protocol (the wireless links 138 between computer devices 150 and corresponding access points can be established in accordance with a WiFi™, 802.11, or any other suitable communications standard; [0052]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Gunasekara into the system of Vig and Khaled in order to provide greater fairness of servicing multiple clients in a mesh network (Gunasekara; [0010]).
Claim(s) 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vig et al. (US 20240049217) in view of in view of Khaled (US 11646935) and in view of Ramaswamy (US 20230028872).
Regarding claim 26, the combination of Vig and Khaled does not expressly disclose wherein after the traffic flows commence, the RAP is configured to analyze a first type of application of the first packets or first frames and a second type of application of the second packets or second frames and determine a selected link of the first mesh link or the second mesh link to be used for the first type or the second type, and wherein, after the selected link is determined, subsequent packets or frames in the traffic flows are transmitted via the selected link.
In an analogous art, Ramaswamy discloses wherein after the traffic flows commence, the RAP is configured to analyze a first type of application of the first packets or first frames and a second type of application of the second packets or second frames and determine a selected link of the first mesh link or the second mesh link to be used for the first type or the second type, and wherein, after the selected link is determined, subsequent packets or frames in the traffic flows are transmitted via the selected link (link scheduler receives data about the application type (e.g., from the FE 122) and selects the set of links. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that in other embodiments, other elements may analyze the data and select a set of links. For example, the link scheduler 126 may generate and update a list of preferred sets of links for each application (or application type) and supply this list to the FE 122, while the packet inspector 124 identifies the application (or application type) of a set of data packets in a data flow and supplies this identification to the FE 122. In such embodiments, the FE 122 determines the routing path for a particular data flow based on the identified application (or application type) and the previously received list of preferred sets of links; [0034]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Ramaswamy into the system of Vig and Khaled in order to enable receiving routing policy priorities on a per application basis and select routes to satisfy the selected priorities on a dynamic basis (Ramaswamy; [0005]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Mao et al. (US 20230422096), “TECHNIQUES FOR INTEGRATED ACCESS AND BACKHAUL (IAB) NODES.”
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OUSSAMA ROUDANI whose telephone number is (571)272-4727. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/OUSSAMA ROUDANI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413