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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 10, 11, 16, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Applicant’s submission of prior art, Wang et al., US Patent Application Publication Number 2021/0120427 (hereinafter Wang).
Regarding claims 1, 11, and 17, Wang discloses a method performed in a wireless network that includes a plurality of wireless access points configured to operate in a multi-access point coordination arrangement [paragraph 0002], the method comprising: selecting, among the plurality of wireless access points, one or more candidate co- channel wireless access points for future transmit opportunity time intervals [paragraph 0046]; identifying candidate wireless client devices communicatively connected to the one or more candidate co-channel wireless access points [paragraph 0045]; selecting, among the candidate wireless client devices, one or more cell edge wireless client devices to be used for wireless entity measurement requests [paragraphs 0047-0048]; and causing each of the one or more candidate co-channel wireless access points to send directed wireless entity measurement requests to the one or more cell edge wireless client devices [paragraph 0045].
Regarding claims 10 and 16, Wang discloses wherein the wireless entity measurement requests include beacon requests or a beacon request in combination with a frame request [paragraph 0061].
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.
Claim(s) 2, 12, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Cheng et al., CN 112804074 (hereinafter Cheng).
Regarding claims 2, 12, and 18, Wang does not specifically disclose wherein selecting the one or more candidate co-channel wireless access points is based on historical data related to co-channel wireless access points obtained over time for the wireless network. However, Cheng teaches selecting a candidate access point based on historical data [“selecting one AP device j from the un-recommended AP device, according to the topology structure of n AP devices, n-1 AP devices in each AP device history state information and the first configuration parameter, and the candidate configuration parameter set of AP device j obtains the gain set of AP device”]. Before the effective filing of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Wang to include the teaching of Cheng. The motivation for this modification would have been to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 6, 13, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Cherian et al., CN 106165495 (hereinafter Cherian).
Regarding claims 6, 13, and 19, Wang does not specifically disclose wherein identifying candidate wireless client devices comprises a first wireless access point of the plurality of wireless access points: broadcasting a discovery frame to the one or more candidate co-channel wireless access points; and just after the discovery frame, transmitting wireless entity measurement requests to the one or more candidate co-channel wireless access points on a same wireless channel as the discovery frame. However, Cherian teaches these limitations [broadcasting a discovery frame is taught in “In one aspect, the AP can inform all adjacent AP by measuring response frame 450 (measurement report) at the AP, a beacon or a fast initial link setup (FILS) discovery frame (such as by IEEE 802.11 (IEEE 802.11ai standard in upcoming) definition) broadcasting a neighbour report IE 500 (reduced neighbour report). new STA (STA not associated with the AP) may receive reduced neighbour report IE 500, and at the same time monitors the beacon /FILS discovery frame broadcast”; soliciting measurement reports is taught in “Accordingly, the AP can send one or more STA periodically (e.g., twice a day, once a day, once a week) sends a measurement request frame 400 to collect current information on the adjacent AP. In one example, the AP can request the STA transmitting a management frame on a specific channel from any AP search response, and sending a Provide report AP of the response. AP can send request to multiple STAs.”; and “For example, FILS discovery frame may include the above-mentioned reduced neighbour report IE 500. FILS discovery frame may support predefined social channel (e.g., shared channel) transmitted on all the adjacent AP and STA.”. ].
Before the effective filing of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Wang to include the teaching of Cherian. The motivation for this modification would have been to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Applicant’s submission of prior art Wang, X. et al, WO 2022/051408 (hereinafter Wang X).
Regarding claim 8, Wang does not specifically disclose wherein the selecting the one or more candidate co-channel wireless access points, identifying candidate wireless client devices, and selecting one or more cell edge wireless client devices are performed at a network controller that is in communication with the plurality of wireless access points. However, Wang X teaches this limitation [paragraph 0271]. Before the effective filing of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Wang to include the teaching of Wang X. The motivation for this modification would have been to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 9 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Bahr et al., US Patent Application Publication Number 2018/0206184 (hereinafter Bahr).
Regarding claims 9 and 15, Wang does not specifically disclose these limitations. However, Bahr teaches these limitations. Bahr discloses identifying one or more wireless client devices that are moving between coverage areas of at least two wireless access points based on changing receive signal strength information at one or more of the at least two wireless access points [paragraphs 0020, 0022]; and selecting the one or more wireless client devices that are moving for directed wireless entity measurement requests [paragraph 0021]. Before the effective filing of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Wang to include the teaching of Bahr The motivation for this modification would have been to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 7, 14, and 20 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.
Zhang et al., US Patent Application Publication Number 2022/0095235, disclose a system and method for uplink panel selection with power saving.
Wang et al., US Patent Application Publication Number 2018/0302930, disclose methods for concurrent link setup and downlink retrieval for high efficiency WLAN.
Mahoney et al., US Patent Application Publication Number 2019/0075469, disclose systems and methods for coordinated access point channel assignment.
Pandey et al, US Patent Number 8,861,383, disclose acquiring a signal parameter for a neighboring access point.
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/EAW/
March 5, 2026
/ERIKA A WASHINGTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644