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 § 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) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (US 2024/0023003, hereinafter “Zhou”) in view of Sava et al. (US 2025/0126515, hereinafter “Sava”).
For claim 1, Zhou discloses A device (The access point device 600 is a MAP device; see Zhou par. 0292 and Fig. 32), comprising:
a processor (a processing unit 620, see Zhou par. 0307 and Fig. 32);
at least one network interface controller configured to provide access to a network (the access point device 600 includes a communication unit 610 configured to receive first information transmitted by a Station (STA) device; see Zhou par. 0292 and Fig. 32); and
a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises a network management logic that is configured to (the communication device 800 may further include a memory 820. The processor 810 can invoke and execute a computer program from the memory 820 to implement the method in the embodiment of the present disclosure; see Zhou par. 0332 and Fig. 34):
generate one or more multi-access point coordination (MAPC) groupings (As shown in FIG. 7, AP 2 or STA 1 can initiate a process of setting up a multi-AP coordination set, and decide which APs can participate in the next multi-AP coordinated transmission. It is to be noted that STA 1 can recommend APs (such as AP 3 and AP 4) to AP 2 for multi-AP coordinated transmission, and then AP 2 confirms the recommended APs ( such as AP 2+AP 3) and initiates the subsequent multi-AP coordinated transmission process; see Zhou par. 0068, 0074, 0154-0164, Figs. 7 and 8);
select a MAPC mode for each of the one or more MAPC groupings (each of a plurality of MAP devices initiates a group setup process, and reports its configured group information to a controller, and the controller determines the common AP group information and indicates it to each MAP device. The common AP group information is common for all STAs within the coverage; see Zhou par. 0080; Specifically, as shown in FIG. 11, the group setup confirm frame includes Frame Control (2 octets),… (Number of Groups, 1 octet) indicating a number of AP groups in the plurality of AP groups. The plurality of Group Information fields correspond to the plurality of APs group, respectively. Each of the plurality of Group Information fields (the number of octets depends on requirements (variable)) includes an ID field (1 octet) indicating the corresponding AP group, and a field (Type Support, 1 octet) indicating a supported type of multi-AP coordinated transmission, a field (1 octet) indicating a number of APs in the group, and a field (6 octets) indicating a BSSID of each AP. As shown in FIG. 11, the supported type of multi-AP coordinated transmission (type Support) includes Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (C-OFDMA) (1 bit), Coordinated Spatial Reuse (C-SR) (1 bit), Coordinated Beamforming (C-BF) (1 bit), Joint Transmission (J-TX) (1 bit), Uplink Multi User Multiple Input Multiple Output (UL-MU MIMO) (1 bit), and reserved (3 bits); see Zhou par. 0086-0087, 0091); and
transmit at least one signal associated with the upcoming congestion period to the one or more MAPC groupings (In an embodiment of the present disclosure, for the STA-initiated multi-AP coordination set setup solution, in a relatively static environment, the STA can recommend surrounding APs to set up a multi-AP coordination set according to environment information (such as received signal strengths from surrounding APs, etc.), and then perform multi-AP coordinated transmission. In addition, when the common multi-AP coordination set pre-configured by the network is not applicable to a certain STA or STAs, the STA(s) can autonomously recommend a suitable AP to re-set up an AP group and assign a new group ID. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, for the problem when a certain AP ( or APs) is assigned to different groups and then needs to provide different STAs with multi-AP coordinated transmission services, an indication of a priority for the STA to participate in the multi-AP transmission service is added to the Group Setup Response frame, and a corresponding algorithm is designed for this indication, which can alleviate the problem of collision when the AP provides multi-AP coordinated transmission services to different STAs to a certain extent.; see Zhou par. 0230-0231).
Zhou does not explicitly disclose determine an upcoming congestion period;. Sava discloses determine an upcoming congestion period (at block 410, an upcoming time period of congestion for a cell site associated with a first device is predicted. This may be peak hours for the cell site. At block 420, a window of time for pre-cache of content outside of the upcoming time period of congestion is identified; see Sava par. 0086). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Sava's arrangement in Zhou's invention to predict off-peak hours and specific parameters for downloading content during off-peak hours, thereby shifting traffic to a higher capacity time frame (see Sava par. 0060).
For claim 2, Zhou discloses The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one signal is associated with the one or more MAPC groupings (As shown in FIG. 2, a MAP can cover all SAPs. If a wireless backhaul is used between the MAP and the SAPs, it means that the wireless signal of the MAP can cover all the surrounding SAPs; see Zhou par. 0047).
For claim 3, Zhou discloses The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one signal is associated with a selected MAPC mode (the third information may be transmitted via a Group Confirm frame. The Group Confirm frame includes at least a Group Confirm field, and the Group Confirm field includes a group identification field, a field indicating a supported type of multi-AP coordinated transmission, a field indicating a number of APs in the group, and a field indicating a BSSID of each AP. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 13, the Group Confirm frame includes Frame Control (2 octets), Time Length (2 octets), RA ( 6 octets), TA ( 6 octets), Group Confirm field (the number of octets depends on requirements (variable)), and FCS ( 4 octets). The Group Confirm field includes a Group ID field (1 octet), a field (1 octet) indicating a supported type of multi-AP coordinated transmission, a field (1 octet) indicating a number of APs in the group, and a field (6 octets) indicating a BSSID of each AP; see Zhou par. 0095-0096).
Claim(s) 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou and Sava, and further in view of Levy-Abegnoli et al. (US 2020/0252300, hereinafter “Levy”).
For claim 4, the combination of Zho and Sava does not explicitly disclose The device of claim 1, wherein the network management logic is further configured to evaluate telemetry data. Levy discloses The device of claim 1, wherein the network management logic is further configured to evaluate telemetry data (During operation, leaf 402 may report statistics 406 to supervisory device 408 regarding link congestion of links 412 and/or flow-level telemetry, such as information regarding a particular incoming flow 404, flowx. Based on the reported statistics 406, supervisory device 408 may predict that a particular link 412 will experience congestion during a particular period of time, and potentially due to a seasonal traffic flow, such as flowx. To avoid this predicted congestion, supervisory device may send an instruction 410 to leaf 402 that causes the offending flow to be sent over a particular set of links (e.g., 11 and 12) in a round robin fashion; see Levy par. 0058). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Levy's arrangement in Zhou's invention to initiate, in advance of the identified period of time, re-computation of equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) weights associated with the plurality of links that prevent occurrence of the predicted seasonal congestion on the particular link during the identified period of time (see Levy par. 0010).
For claim 5, the combination of Zhou and Sava does not explicitly disclose The device of claim 4, wherein the determination of the upcoming congestion period is based on the telemetry data. Levy discloses The device of claim 4, wherein the determination of the upcoming congestion period is based on the telemetry data (During operation, leaf 402 may report statistics 406 to supervisory device 408 regarding link congestion of links 412 and/or flow-level telemetry, such as information regarding a particular incoming flow 404, flowx. Based on the reported statistics 406, supervisory device 408 may predict that a particular link 412 will experience congestion during a particular period of time, and potentially due to a seasonal traffic flow, such as flowx. To avoid this predicted congestion, supervisory device may send an instruction 410 to leaf 402 that causes the offending flow to be sent over a particular set of links (e.g., 11 and 12) in a round robin fashion; see Levy par. 0058). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Levy's arrangement in Zhou's invention to initiate, in advance of the identified period of time, re-computation of equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) weights associated with the plurality of links that prevent occurrence of the predicted seasonal congestion on the particular link during the identified period of time (see Levy par. 0010).
Claim(s) 6-8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou and Sava, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2015/0311961, hereinafter “Li”).
For claim 6, the combination of Zhou and Sava does not explicitly disclose The device of claim 1, wherein the network management logic is further configured to activate a dynamic bandwidth switching mode within a MAPC grouping. Li discloses The device of claim 1, wherein the network management logic is further configured to activate a dynamic bandwidth switching mode within a MAPC grouping (The cluster module 104 dynamically determines which network transmit points can be advantageously grouped together in clusters for radio coordination. The cluster module 104 makes clustering decisions based on the data input 110 and the configuration 128, and informs the coordination module 106 of proposed clustering. The transmit point clustering facilitates closed-loop control to allow the network to continuously adapt to network configuration changes and network traffic dynamics in order to maintain relatively high radio coordination performance; see Li par. 0038, 0048, 0024-0025). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Li's arrangement in Zhou's invention to reduce interference in a wireless communications network (see Li par. 0002).
For claim 7, the combination of Zhou and Sava does not explicitly disclose The device of claim 6, wherein the network management logic is further configured to transmit data utilizing the dynamic bandwidth switching mode. Li discloses The device of claim 6, wherein the network management logic is further configured to transmit data utilizing the dynamic bandwidth switching mode (The coordination module 106 performs radio coordination techniques to coordinate the radio communication among each cluster of transmit points 124. The coordination module 106 receives the data input 110 and clustering output and makes decisions regarding the transmit point parameter setup, which depends on the employed radio coordination scheme; see Li par. 0039). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Li's arrangement in Zhou's invention to reduce interference in a wireless communications network (see Li par. 0002).
For claim 8, the combination of Zhou and Sava does not explicitly disclose The device of claim 7, wherein the network management logic is further configured to receive feedback data. Li discloses The device of claim 7, wherein the network management logic is further configured to receive feedback data (The coordination module 106 sends the parameter setup, or transmission parameters, to the transmit points 124, and provides feedback 126, regarding the decision quality to the configuration module 102 for adaptive radio coordination configuration management. In various embodiments, the signaling content of the feedback 126 includes, for example, throughput per user, a measurement of rate fairness among users, or the like; see Li par. 0039). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Li's arrangement in Zhou's invention to reduce interference in a wireless communications network (see Li par. 0002).
For claim 10, the combination of Zhou and Sava does not explicitly disclose The device of claim 8, wherein the network management logic is further configured to adjust one or more parameters associated with the one or more MAPC groupings. Li discloses The device of claim 8, wherein the network management logic is further configured to adjust one or more parameters associated with the one or more MAPC groupings (The coordination module 106 performs radio coordination techniques to coordinate the radio communication among each cluster of transmit points 124. The coordination module 106 receives the data input 110 and clustering output and makes decisions regarding the transmit point parameter setup, which depends on the employed radio coordination scheme. The coordination module 106 sends the parameter setup, or transmission parameters, to the transmit points 124, and provides feedback 126, regarding the decision quality to the configuration module 102 for adaptive radio coordination configuration management. In various embodiments, the signaling content of the feedback 126 includes, for example, throughput per user, a measurement of rate fairness among users, or the like; see Li par. 0039). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Li's arrangement in Zhou's invention to reduce interference in a wireless communications network (see Li par. 0002).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou and Sava and further in view of Hou et al. (US 2025/0031255, hereinafter “Hou”).
For claim 9, the combination of Zhou, Sava and Li does not explicitly disclose The device of claim 8, wherein the feedback data is received from one or more MPAC groupings. Hou discloses The device of claim 8, wherein the feedback data is received from one or more MPAC groupings (after the AP1 completes interactions with other devices in the multi-AP coordinated set in the preparation phase and the probe phase, the AP2 is selected (for example, it may be determined based on the coverage of the AP1, the CSI feedback of each STA acquired by the AP1, etc., which are not exhaustive) as the coordinated AP for the joint transmission, and obtains the CSI feedback of the STAI from the AP2. The AP! calculates the downlink transmission precoding matrix of the AP2 according to all the CSI information, and informs the AP2 of the precoding information and the data information to be sent to the STA1; see Hou par. 0974, 602). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Hou's arrangement in Zhou's invention to allow a TXOP (transmission opportunity) sharing technology between multiple APs is further supported, that is, control information is interacted between APs through wireless links to achieve time domain, frequency domain, and spatial domain resource sharing, thereby increasing peak throughput and reducing latency (see Hou par. 0051).
Claim(s) 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2015/0311961, hereinafter “Li”) in view of Hou et al. (US 2025/0031255, hereinafter “Hou”).
For claim 18, Li discloses A method of managing a network, comprising:
forecasting an upcoming congestion period (The transmit point coordinator 42 receives information from the congestion detection server 36 and the TE optimizer 38 to determine whether congestion could occur in the network. If congestion is identified or if potential congestion is predicted, using information from the QoE manager and the database component, transmit point coordinator 42 defines, or delimits, clusters of multiple transmit points in the network and coordinates the radio communications of each cluster; see Li par. 0024-0025);
transmitting a schedule to an access point (AP) to pre-allocate the plurality of dynamic bandwidth transmission opportunities (The cluster module 104 dynamically determines which network transmit points can be advantageously grouped together in clusters for radio coordination. The cluster module 104 makes clustering decisions based on the data input 110 and the configuration 128, and informs the coordination module 106 of proposed clustering. The transmit point clustering facilitates closed-loop control to allow the network to continuously adapt to network configuration changes and network traffic dynamics in order to maintain relatively high radio coordination performance; see Li par. 0036-0038);
receiving a confirmation from the AP associated with the schedule (The coordination module 106 performs radio coordination techniques to coordinate the radio communication among each cluster of transmit points 124. The coordination module 106 receives the data input 110 and clustering output and makes decisions regarding the transmit point parameter setup, which depends on the employed radio coordination scheme; see Li par. 0039); and
Li does not explicitly disclose selecting a dynamic bandwidth transmission mode; selecting a plurality of dynamic bandwidth transmission opportunities; transmit data utilizing the selected dynamic bandwidth transmission mode. Hou discloses selecting a dynamic bandwidth transmission mode (each AP may also acquire the AID or VAID values of other APs from the target device, save the AID or VAID values and dynamically update the AID or VAID values. For example, in combination with the aforementioned implementations, the first STA (sharing AP) may acquire the AID and/or VAID of the second STA (shared AP) from the target device and save the AID or VAID; similarly, the second STA (shared AP) may also acquire the AID and/or VAID of the first STA (sharing AP) from the target device and save the AID or VAID values; see Hou par. 0507); selecting a plurality of dynamic bandwidth transmission opportunities (The common information field of the trigger frame includes at least one of: a trigger type subfield, where a value of the trigger type subfield is used to represent a type of the trigger frame; a transmission mode subfield, where a value of the transmission mode subfield is used to indicate a coordinated transmission mode used for transmission opportunity (TXOP) sharing of the multiple STAs, and/or whether the multiple STAs enable a TXOP sharing mode; an uplink and downlink indication subfield, where a value of the uplink and downlink indication subfield is used to indicate that TXOP is used for a simultaneous uplink transmission or a simultaneous downlink transmission; or a sharing transmission indication subfield, where a value of the sharing transmission indication subfield is used to indicate whether the multiple STAs enable the TXOP sharing mode; see Hou par. 0513-0516); transmit data utilizing the selected dynamic bandwidth transmission mode (After the AP1 completes interactions with other devices in the coordinated set in the preparation and probe phases to know that the STA2 in the BSS2 (STA2 associated with AP2 in BSS2 as shown in FIG. 13) has uplink to-be-transmitted data and obtains AID or VAID information of STA2. Then, the AP1 generates a MAP TXS trigger frame (i.e., the first trigger frame), to trigger a simultaneous uplink transmission of the STAI (associated with the AP1) and the STA2 (associated with theAP2); see Hou par. 0566). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Hou's arrangement in Zhou's invention to allow a TXOP (transmission opportunity) sharing technology between multiple APs is further supported, that is, control information is interacted between APs through wireless links to achieve time domain, frequency domain, and spatial domain resource sharing, thereby increasing peak throughput and reducing latency (see Hou par. 0051).
For claim 19, Li does not explicitly disclose The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises receiving feedback data. Hou discloses The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises receiving feedback data (after the AP1 completes interactions with other devices in the multi-AP coordinated set in the preparation phase and the probe phase, the AP2 is selected (for example, it may be determined based on the coverage of the AP1, the CSI feedback of each STA acquired by the AP1, etc., which are not exhaustive) as the coordinated AP for the joint transmission, and obtains the CSI feedback of the STAI from the AP2. The AP! calculates the downlink transmission precoding matrix of the AP2 according to all the CSI information, and informs the AP2 of the precoding information and the data information to be sent to the STA1; see Hou par. 0974, 602). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Hou's arrangement in Zhou's invention to allow a TXOP (transmission opportunity) sharing technology between multiple APs is further supported, that is, control information is interacted between APs through wireless links to achieve time domain, frequency domain, and spatial domain resource sharing, thereby increasing peak throughput and reducing latency (see Hou par. 0051).
For claim 20, Li discloses The method of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises adjusting one or more parameters based on the feedback data (The coordination module 106 performs radio coordination techniques to coordinate the radio communication among each cluster of transmit points 124. The coordination module 106 receives the data input 110 and clustering output and makes decisions regarding the transmit point parameter setup, which depends on the employed radio coordination scheme. The coordination module 106 sends the parameter setup, or transmission parameters, to the transmit points 124, and provides feedback 126, regarding the decision quality to the configuration module 102 for adaptive radio coordination configuration management. In various embodiments, the signaling content of the feedback 126 includes, for example, throughput per user, a measurement of rate fairness among users, or the like; see Li par. 0039). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Li's arrangement in Zhou's invention to reduce interference in a wireless communications network (see Li par. 0002).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11 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.
-Li et al. (US 2020/0214034);
-Dong (US 2024/0305596).
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/CHAE S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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