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 .
DETAILED ACTION
1. This action is in response the RCE and remarks filed on 18 February 2026.
Claims 1-20 are presently pending.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/18/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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) 1-2, 4-11 and 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thakur et al., U. S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0094958 in view of Jung et al., U. S. Patent Publication No. 20190089686.
Regarding claim 1, Thakur discloses a first station device of a plurality of station devices in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, wherein a processor of the first station device is to perform operations comprising: identifying, from a list of the plurality of station devices maintained by the first station device, a second station device from the plurality of station devices for the first station device to delegate group ownership of the P2P network wherein delegation of the group ownership is based on an intent value and a reachability value of the second station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0024] and [0027]-[0028]; a second device among the clients is identify as potential group owner); and delegating ownership of the P2P network from the first station device to the second station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0048]; the second device with the highest intent values is selected as the group owner).
Although Thakur discloses the invention substantially as claimed, they do not explicitly disclose initiating, by the first station device, a delegation of group ownership for the P2P network.
Jung teaches initiating, by the first station device, a delegation of group ownership for the P2P network (see Jung, ¶ [0093], [0105] and [0119]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Jung with that of Thakur in order to efficiently select new owner for the group from the plurality of the eligible devices.
Regarding claim 2, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein delegating ownership from the first station device to the second station device comprises: providing an intent value associated with each station device in the list to the second station device; and causing the second station device to take ownership of the P2P network (see Thakur, ¶ [0024] and [0028]).
Regarding claim 4, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein the processor of the first station device is to perform operations further comprising: responsive to establishing the P2P network, receiving, from each station device of the plurality of station devices, an intent value and a reachability value; and generating the list by inserting, into the list, each station device of the plurality of station devices with a corresponding intent value and a corresponding reachability value (see Thakur, ¶ [0027] – [0028]).
Regarding claim 5, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein the reachability value is a number of station devices of the plurality of station devices that are within a communication range of a respective station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0027]).
Regarding claim 6, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein the processor of the first station device is to perform operations further comprising: receiving, from the plurality of station devices, a plurality of reachability values, wherein each reachability value of the plurality of reachability values corresponds to a station device of the plurality of station devices; updating, based the plurality of reachability values, the list; and identifying a station device in the list identified as a highest ranked station device based on the intent value and the reachability value (see Thakur, ¶ [0045]-[0046]).
Regarding claim 7, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein the P2P network is a wireless local area network (WLAN) established among the plurality of station devices (see Thakur, ¶ [0041]).
Regarding claim 8, Thakur discloses a wireless network comprising: a first station device of a plurality of station devices operating as an owner of the wireless network, wherein a processor of the first station device is to perform operations comprising: periodically receiving, from the plurality of station devices, a plurality of reachability values, wherein each reachability value of the plurality of reachability values corresponds to a station device of the plurality of station devices (see Thakur, ¶ [0045]-[0046]; reachability count of other client devices is received); for each predetermined time interval, updating, using the plurality of reachability values, a list of the plurality of station devices maintained by the first station device, wherein each station device in the list includes a corresponding intent value and a corresponding reachability value (see Thakur, ¶ [0027]-[0028]; list of the devices including their intent value and reachability count is maintained); identifying, based on the list, a station device in the list designated as a highest ranked station device to delegate ownership (see Thakur, ¶ [0048]; device with the highest intent value and visible to all other devices is selected); delegating group ownership from the first station device to a second station device, wherein the second station device is the highest ranked station device identified based on an intent value and a reachability value of the second station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0024] and [0045]-[0046]).
Although Thakur discloses the invention substantially as claimed, it does not explicitly disclose initiation of a delegation of group ownership by the first station device.
Jung teaches initiation of a delegation of group ownership by the first station device (see Jung, ¶ [0093], [0105] and [0119]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Jung with that of Thakur in order to efficiently select new owner for the group from the plurality of the eligible devices.
Regarding claim 9, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein the wireless network is a wireless local area network (WLAN) established among the plurality of station devices (see Thakur, ¶ [0041]).
Regarding claim 10, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein the processor of the first station device is to perform operations further comprising: responsive to the initiation of the delegation of group ownership by the first station device, obtaining, from the list, the highest ranked station device; and delegating ownership to the highest ranked station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0024] and Jung, ¶ [0093] and [0119]). Same motivation utilized for claim 8, applies equally as well to claim 10.
Regarding claim 11, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein delegating ownership to the highest ranked station device comprises: providing an intent value associated with each station device in the list to the highest ranked station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0048]).
Regarding claim 13, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein each reachability value is a number of station devices of the plurality of station devices that are within a communication range of a respective station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0027]).
Regarding claim 14, Thakur discloses a method comprising: maintaining, by a first station device of a plurality of station devices of a wireless network, a list of the plurality of station devices (see Thakur, ¶ [0029] and [0032]-[0033]; a list of wireless devices is maintained), wherein each station device in the list includes an intent value (see Thakur, ¶ [0028]; intent value is associated with each wireless device) and a reachability value (see Thakur, ¶ [0027] and [0045]; reachability count is associated with each wireless device); identifying, from the list, a second station device from plurality of station devices for the first station device to delegate group ownership of the wireless network (see Thakur, ¶ [0005] and [0045]); delegating group ownership of the wireless network from the first station device to the second station device based on an intent value and a reachability value of the second station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0024] and [0045]-[0046]).
Although Thakur discloses the invention substantially as claimed, it does not explicitly disclose initiating, by the first station device, a delegation of group ownership for the wireless network.
Jung teaches initiating, by the first station device, a delegation of group ownership for the wireless network (see Jung, ¶ [0093], [0105] and [0119]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Jung with that of Thakur in order to efficiently select new owner for the group from the plurality of the eligible devices.
Regarding claim 15, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein the second station device is identified as a highest ranked station device, in the list, based on the intent value and the reachability value (see Thakur, ¶ [0027] – [0028] and ¶ [0041]).
Regarding claim 16, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein the wireless network is a wireless local area network (WLAN) established among the plurality of station devices (see Thakur, ¶ [0041]).
Regarding claim 17, Thakur-Jung teaches further comprising: responsive to establishing the wireless network for the plurality of station devices, generating, by the first station device, the list (see Thakur, ¶ [0029]).
Regarding claim 18, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein generating, by the first station device, the list comprises: receiving, by the first station device, an intent value and a reachability value from each station device of the plurality of station devices; and inserting, by the first station device into the list, each station device of the plurality of station devices with a corresponding intent value and a corresponding reachability value; and storing, by the first station device, the list (see Thakur, ¶ [0027], [0032] and [0046]).
Regarding claim 19, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein maintaining, by the first station device, the list comprises: receiving, by the first station device, a current reachability value from each station device of the plurality of station devices; and for each predetermined time interval, updating, by the first station device, a reachability value of each station device in the list with a corresponding current reachability value (see Thakur, ¶ [0045]- [0046]).
Regarding claim 20, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein the reachability value is a number of station devices of the plurality of station devices that are within a communication range of a respective station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0027]).
5. Claims 3 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thakur in view of Jung as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Moritomo, U. S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0213585.
Although the combination of Thakur-Oh discloses Regarding claim 3, Thakur-Jung teaches wherein delegating ownership from the first station device to the second station device comprises: providing, from the list, an intent value associated with each station device of the plurality of station devices to the second station device; and causing the second station device to take ownership of the P2P network (see Thakur, ¶ [0048]). They do not explicitly disclose generating one or more encryption keys for the plurality of station devices; providing the one or more encryption keys to the second station device.
Moritomo teaches generating one or more encryption keys for the plurality of station devices, providing the one or more encryption keys to the second station device (see Moritomo, ¶ [0050]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Moritomo with that of Thakur-Jung in order to securely exchange and share intent value between the station devices.
Regarding claim 12, Thakur-Jung-Moritomo teaches wherein delegating ownership to the highest ranked station device comprises: generating one or more encryption keys for the plurality of station devices; providing the one or more encryption keys to the highest ranked station device; and providing an intent value associated with each station device in the list to the highest ranked station device (see Thakur, ¶ [0048] and Moritomo, ¶ [0050]).
Prior Art of Record
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Please refer to form PTO-892 (Notice of Reference Cited) for a list of relevant prior art.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMED IBRAHIM whose telephone number is (571)270-1132. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 9:30AM to 6:00PM.
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/MOHAMED IBRAHIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
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