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 § 112
Claims 1-7, 14, the claim limitations “recite various ‘unit’ like an establishment unit; control unit; transmission unit; a reception unit; acquisition unit; a setting unit” invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. However, the written description fails to disclose the corresponding structure, material, or acts for performing the entire claimed function and to clearly link the structure, material, or acts to the function. Therefore, the claim is indefinite and is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Applicant may:
(a) Amend the claim so that the claim limitation will no longer be interpreted as a limitation under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph;
(b) Amend the written description of the specification such that it expressly recites what structure, material, or acts perform the entire claimed function, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)); or
(c) Amend the written description of the specification such that it clearly links the structure, material, or acts disclosed therein to the function recited in the claim, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)).
If applicant is of the opinion that the written description of the specification already implicitly or inherently discloses the corresponding structure, material, or acts and clearly links them to the function so that one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize what structure, material, or acts perform the claimed function, applicant should clarify the record by either:
(a) Amending the written description of the specification such that it expressly recites the corresponding structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function and clearly links or associates the structure, material, or acts to the claimed function, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)); or
(b) Stating on the record what the corresponding structure, material, or acts, which are implicitly or inherently set forth in the written description of the specification, perform the claimed function. For more information, see 37 CFR 1.75(d) and MPEP §§ 608.01(o) and 2181.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 14 is directed to “a storage medium storing a program”.
The specification broadly includes media that is “not limited to information-delivery media” in [0016], which is broad enough to include transitory media. According to the Official Gazette 1351 OG 212 of 23 Feb 2010, “Subject Matter Eligibility of Computer Readable Media”, the “broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to a computer readable medium (also called machine readable medium and other such as variations) typically covers forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer readable medium, particularly when the specification is silent.” “When the broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim covers a signal per se, the claim must be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter.” “A claim drawn to such a computer readable medium that covers both transitory and non-transitory embodiments may be amended to narrow the claim to cover only statutory embodiments to avoid a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 101 by adding the term “non-transitory” to the claim.”
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 –
Claim(s) 1-3, 6-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lino et al. (US Pub No. 2010/0296495).
Claim 1, Lino discloses a communication apparatus comprising: an establishment unit configured to establish a connection with another communication apparatus (par [0010, and See Fig.1, and 2, access point A; terminal A) via a first link and a second link (par [0010] “access point A is communicating with terminal A, for example when the timing access point A transmits DTIM beacon 22 when beacon period H3 of access point A; access point A transmits broadcast/multicast frame 25 and after access point B transmits DTIM beacon 23 to be transmitted in par [0011]”); and a control unit configured to, in a case where the establishment unit establishes a connection with the another communication apparatus via the first link and the second link, perform control to set a transmission interval of a beacon frame to be transmitted via the first link and a transmission interval of a beacon frame to be transmitted via the second link to the same value ([0054] “a transmission interval of a beacon frame to be transmitted via the first link and a transmission interval of a beacon frame to be transmitted via the second link to the same value based on access point A transmits a broadcast/multicast frame to the terminal wherein value as defined by beacons frame are transmitted from each access point at regular intervals or beacon period in par [0055]”).
Claim 2, Lino further discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission unit configured to store the transmission interval of the beacon frame set to the same value (par [0055]) by the control unit in a management frame compliant with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard and transmit the management frame (par [0009] “ in a power saving mode defined in the IEEE802.11 standard, when a plurality of neighboring radio access points using the same radio channel use the same beacon period and DTIM period, the access points may transmit broadcast/multicast frames at the same timing to support the beacon frame in par [0055]”).
Claim 3, Lino further discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a reception unit configured to receive settings of the transmission interval of the beacon frame to be transmitted via the first link and the transmission interval of the beacon frame to be transmitted via the second link, wherein in a case where the reception unit gives an instruction to execute communication via the first link and the second link (par [0010] “access point A is communicating with terminal A, for example when the timing access point A transmits DTIM beacon 22 when beacon period H3 of access point A; access point A transmits broadcast/multicast frame 25 and after access point B transmits DTIM beacon 23 to be transmitted in par [0011]”), the reception unit performs control to set beacon transmission intervals of the first link and the second link to the same value ([0054] “a transmission interval of a beacon frame to be transmitted via the first link and a transmission interval of a beacon frame to be transmitted via the second link to the same value based on access point A transmits a broadcast/multicast frame to the terminal wherein value as defined by beacons frame are transmitted from each access point at regular intervals or beacon period in par [0055]”).
Claim 6, Lino discloses a communication apparatus comprising: an establishment unit configured to establish a connection with another communication apparatus via a first link and a second link (par [0010] “access point A is communicating with terminal A, for example when the timing access point A transmits DTIM beacon 22 when beacon period H3 of access point A; access point A transmits broadcast/multicast frame 25 and after access point B transmits DTIM beacon 23 to be transmitted in par [0011]”); an acquisition unit configured to acquire a beacon transmission interval included in a management frame received from the another communication apparatus and compliant with an IEEE 802.11 standard (par [0055]) by the control unit in a management frame compliant with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard and transmit the management frame (par [0009] “ in a power saving mode defined in the IEEE802.11 standard, when a plurality of neighboring radio access points using the same radio channel use the same beacon period and DTIM period, the access points may transmit broadcast/multicast frames at the same timing to support the beacon frame in par [0055]”), the beacon transmission interval set to the same value between the first link and the second link([0054] “a transmission interval of a beacon frame to be transmitted via the first link and a transmission interval of a beacon frame to be transmitted via the second link to the same value based on access point A transmits a broadcast/multicast frame to the terminal wherein value as defined by beacons frame are transmitted from each access point at regular intervals or beacon period in par [0055]”); and a setting unit configured to, based on the beacon transmission interval acquired by the acquisition unit, set a period when a beacon frame is received via the first link and a period when a beacon frame is received via the second link (par [0010] “access point A is communicating with terminal A, for example when the timing access point A transmits DTIM beacon 22 when beacon period H3 of access point A; access point A transmits broadcast/multicast frame 25 and after access point B transmits DTIM beacon 23 to be transmitted in par [0011]”).
Claim 7, Lino further discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the setting unit sets the period when the beacon frame is received to a multiple of the beacon transmission interval (par [0054] “a beacon is transmitted, the DTIM count value is decremented by "1" every time a beacon is transmitted, for example: the value subtracting "1" from the DTIM period is in the beacon next to the DTIM beacon in which the DTIM count value is "0””).
Claim 8, Lino further discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the period when the beacon frame is received is stored in a management frame compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard and is transmitted to the another communication apparatus ([0009] “ in a power saving mode defined in the IEEE802.11 standard, when a plurality of neighboring radio access points using the same radio channel use the same beacon period and DTIM period).
Claim 9, Lino further discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the management frame is an association request frame (par [0055] “access point A transmits a broadcast/multicast frame to the terminal”).
Claim 10, Lino discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the period when the beacon frame is received is stored in a listen interval field of the association request frame (par [0005] “Listen Interval defines the period in terminal, the access point transmits stored broadcast/multicast frame 12 to terminals under the control immediately after transmitting DTIM beacon 11”).
Claim 11, Lino discloses the communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the period when the beacon frame is received is a listen interval compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard (par [0005] “Listen Interval defines the period in terminal, and in par [0009] provided the control unit in a management frame compliant with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard with compliant transmit the management frame channel use the same beacon period and DTIM period, the access points may transmit broadcast/multicast frames at the same timing to support the beacon frame in par [0055]).
Claim 12, the claim is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1.
Claim 13, the claim is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 6.
Claim 14, Lino further discloses a storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to function as the units of the communication apparatus according to claim 1 (See Fig. 3, par [0035] “broadcast/multicast service delivery data stored in content server 101 is delivered to terminal apparatuses 104 under the control of respective access points 103”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 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.
Claim 4, the communication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein in a case where the reception unit gives an instruction to execute communication via the first link and the second link, the reception unit performs control not to set each of the beacon transmission interval of the first link and the beacon transmission interval of the second link.
Claim 5, the communication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein in a case where the reception unit does not give an instruction to execute communication via the first link and the second link, the reception unit performs control to set a beacon transmission interval of an indicated link.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
SUGAYA et al. (US Pub No. 2022/0116858) discloses communication device and communication method.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUOC HUU DOAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7920. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00AM - 4:00PM.
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/PHUOC H DOAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646