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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicants’ arguments/amendments filed 05/13/2026 with respect to claims 1 and 10 have been considered but they are mooted in view of the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action.
The rejection of claim 5 under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement is withdrawn. Supports for claim 5 are discussed at least in paragraph [0163] of the specification.
The amendments to the title filed 04/27/2026 are entered.
Claims 9 and 11 are allowed.
Claims 1 – 5 and 8 – 11 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 2, 7, 8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (Patent No.: US 9,713,049; hereinafter Huang) in view of Baid et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0257024; hereinafter Baid).
Regarding claim 1, Huang discloses a terminal, comprising: control circuitry, which, in operation (see Fig. 2, col. 4 lines 35 – 40, UE 200 includes processing circuitry 206), measures received quality based on a signal from a certain access point different from a first access point of a connection destination and referred to as a second access point (see abstract, col. 2 lines 20 – 24, col. 5 lines 42 – 45, the UE 102 may be configured to determine an RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) of a serving cell and an RSRQ of a target cell (ex: second access point)…); and transmission circuitry, which, in operation (see Fig. 2, UE 200 includes antennas 201), transmits information on the received quality to the first access point (see col. 7 lines 59 – 62, A measurement report may be transmitted to the eNB 104 at operation 520, col. 9 lines 60 – 66,…the measurement report may include RSRQ values for the serving cell and the target cell).
Huang does not disclose the following claimed features: regarding claim 1, wherein the transmission circuitry, in operation, transmits backhaul information on the second access point to the first access point when the second access point is detected.
Regarding claim 1, Baid discloses wherein the transmission circuitry, in operation, transmits backhaul information on the second access point to the first access point when the second access point is detected (see Fig. 8, para. 0113, … to allow the UE to read the backhaul info from the broadcast channel of the second AP. When the UE obtains the backhaul information from the second AP, it may report the information to the first AP).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Huang, and have the features, as taught by Baid, to provide assistance to backhaul resource management, for example from one or both of an access network and core network, to improve the efficiency of reconfigurations, resource allocation, and/or capacity of the backhaul network, as discussed by Baid (para. 0100).
Regarding claim 2, Huang discloses wherein the information on the received quality is used by the first access point and the second access point for setting coordinated communication for the terminal (see Fig. 4, serving cell and target cell, col. 9 lines 50 – 67, col. 10 lines 1 – 12, At operation 810, the eNB 104 may transmit, to a target cell eNB 104 configured to operate in the target cell, a message that indicates the RSRQ measurement type for the UE 102…if the measured RSRQ of the target cell is higher than the measured RSRQ for the serving cell by a specified margin, a handoff to the target cell may be determined).
Regarding claim 7, Huang discloses further comprising reception circuitry, which, in operation, receives information on a third access point from the first access point, wherein the transmission circuitry transmits, to the first access point, the information on the received quality of an access point different from the third access point among a plurality of the second access points (see col. 5 lines 59 – 67, a UE may report measurements for multiple target cells, col. 9 lines 60 – 67, …the measurement report may include RSRQ values for the serving cell and the target cell, and may also include other information).
Huang does not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 8.
Regarding claim 8, Baid discloses wherein the backhaul information on the second access point includes information used for wired communication between the first access point and the second access point (see Fig. 15, para. 0002, 0140, wired backhaul links, para. 0113, to report backhaul information used for communication).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Huang, and have the features, as taught by Baid, to provide assistance to backhaul resource management, for example from one or both of an access network and core network, to improve the efficiency of reconfigurations, resource allocation, and/or capacity of the backhaul network, as discussed by Baid (para. 0100).
Regarding claim 10, Huang discloses a communication method, comprising: measuring, by a first terminal, received quality based on a signal from a certain access point different from a first access point of a connection destination and referred to as a second access point (see abstract, col. 2 lines 20 – 24, col. 5 lines 42 – 45, the UE 102 may be configured to determine an RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) of a serving cell and an RSRQ of a target cell (ex: second access point)…); and transmitting, by the first terminal, information on the received quality to the first access point (see col. 7 lines 59 – 62, A measurement report may be transmitted to the eNB 104 at operation 520, col. 9 lines 60 – 66,…the measurement report may include RSRQ values for the serving cell and the target cell).
Huang does not disclose the following claimed features: regarding claim 10, transmitting backhaul information on the second access point to the first access point when the second access point is detected.
Regarding claim 10, Baid discloses transmitting backhaul information on the second access point to the first access point when the second access point is detected (see Fig. 8, para. 0113, … to allow the UE to read the backhaul info from the broadcast channel of the second AP. When the UE obtains the backhaul information from the second AP, it may report the information to the first AP).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Huang, and have the features, as taught by Baid, to provide assistance to backhaul resource management, for example from one or both of an access network and core network, to improve the efficiency of reconfigurations, resource allocation, and/or capacity of the backhaul network, as discussed by Baid (para. 0100).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (Patent No.: US 9,713,049; hereinafter Huang) in view of Baid et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0257024; hereinafter Baid) and further in view of Chu et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0146654; hereinafter Chu).
Huang and Baid do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 3.
Regarding claim 3, Chu discloses further comprising reception circuitry, which, in operation, receives information on communication duration of the signal, from the first access point (see para. 0036, 0044, the AP generates and transmits a trigger signal, such as a polling communication frame 404, to a plurality of client stations …the AP sets a value of a duration field of the communication frame 404 to a value…).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Huang and Baid, and have the features, as taught by Chu, to use WLAN standards to provide for an improved signal user peak data throughput, as discussed by Chu (para. 0003).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (Patent No.: US 9,713,049; hereinafter Huang) in view of Baid et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0257024; hereinafter Baid) and further in view of Luo et al. (Patent No.: US 10,440,743; hereinafter Luo).
Huang and Baid do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 4.
Regarding claim 4, Luo discloses wherein the transmission circuitry transmits information for identifying the terminal connected to the second access point, to the first access point (see col. 25 lines 18 – 36, claim 15, first AP communications apparatus 500 communicates with another device and performs the method: receiving concurrent group information of a concurrent group, where the concurrent group information includes:… an identifier of a concurrent station STA associated with each second AP).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Huang and Baid, and have the features, as taught by Luo, where interference between the concurrent links can be reduced, and the system throughput is further improved, as discussed by Luo (col. 8 lines 43 - 45).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (Patent No.: US 9,713,049; hereinafter Huang) in view of Baid et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0257024; hereinafter Baid) and further in view of Xu et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0350977; hereinafter Xu).
Huang and Baid do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 5.
Regarding claim 5, Xu discloses wherein the transmission circuitry transmits the information on the received quality to the first access point when a fluctuation of the received quality is greater than or equal to a threshold value (see para. 0009, an indicator for indicating the variation degree of the signal qualities of the mobile terminal with respect to the source cell and the target cell, and trigger the mobile terminal to report the measurement result when a value of the indicator exceeds a predetermined threshold value).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Huang and Baid, and have the features, as taught by Xu, in order to improve a probability of success of switching a mobile terminal from a source cell to a target cell and meanwhile also to reduce a probability of ping-pong switching of the mobile terminal, thereby providing a user with seamless and stable network coverage, as discussed by Xu (para. 0004).
Allowable Subject Matter
From the perspective of a first access point, the cited prior arts do not disclose the claimed features of “control circuitry, which, in operation, sets communication for the first terminal based on the information and communication for the second access point based on the backhaul information” as recited in claim 9 and “setting, by the first access point, communication for the first terminal based on the information and communication for the second access points based on the backhaul information” as recited in claim 11 when considering each claim individually as a whole.
Claims 9 and 11 are allowed.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Anh Ngoc M Nguyen whose telephone number is (571) 270-5139. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Bin Yao can be reached on ((571) 272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH NGOC M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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