DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
1. Applicant’s arguments with respect to the pending claims have been considered but are moot because they do not apply to the new reference, Hirano, that is relied on in the current rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
3. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
4. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
5. Claims 1-4, 9-10, 13, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0019617 (hereinafter Ho), in view of Hirano et al., 2010/0189000 (hereinafter Hirano).
Regarding claim 1, Ho discloses an access point device (disclosed is a relay eNB, according to [0044], [0084], Figs. 1 and 5 [element 104]) comprising:
circuitry configured to:
communicate with a wireless terminal by using at least first and second frequency bands that are different from each other (any given base station of the invention (which the relay eNB is an example of) may communicate with a mobile device using a particular frequency band for the forward link and a different frequency band for the reverse link, according to [0119], Fig. 14 [elements 1402, 1416, 1418, and 1420]);
receive a data packet destined for the access point device that includes a data packet destined for the wireless terminal (the relay eNB receives a packet from a donor eNB that is destined for a UE, according to [0086]);
transmit the data packet destined for the wireless terminal that is reconstructed, to the wireless terminal as a destination by using one of the first and second frequency bands (a base station of the invention transmits to a mobile device using a particular frequency band, according to [0119]).
Ho does not expressly disclose that the circuitry is configured to: receive a data packet destined for the access point device that includes a data packet destined for the wireless terminal in a payload portion of the data packet destined for the access point device; reconstruct the data packet destined for the wireless terminal from the payload portion of the data packet destined for the access point device that is received.
Hirano discloses that the circuitry is configured to:
receive a data packet destined for the access point device that includes a data packet destined for the wireless terminal in a payload portion of the data packet destined for the access point device (an MAG (mobile access gateway) [“access point device”] receives a tunneled packet (whereby packet tunneling entails encapsulating a packet addressed to a mobile node in the payload of a packet that is sent to the care-of-address of said mobile node, according to [0003]) that is destined for an MN (mobile node) [“wireless terminal”], according to [0250], [0259], [0263], Figs. 11-12 [steps 1125, 1228, and 1265]);
reconstruct the data packet destined for the wireless terminal from the payload portion of the data packet destined for the access point device that is received (the MAG decapsulates the tunneled packet by removing the outer tunnel and forwarding the inner packet to the MN, according to [0250], [0259], [0263], Figs. 11-12 [steps 1130, 1230, and 1270]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho with Hirano such that the circuitry is configured to: receive a data packet destined for the access point device that includes a data packet destined for the wireless terminal in a payload portion of the data packet destined for the access point device; reconstruct the data packet destined for the wireless terminal from the payload portion of the data packet destined for the access point device that is received.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that a mobile node is reachable at its home address even when said mobile node is in a visited network (Hirano: [0002]).
Regarding claim 3, Ho discloses an access point device (disclosed is a relay eNB, according to [0044], [0084], Figs. 1 and 5 [element 104]) comprising:
circuitry configured to:
communicate with a wireless terminal by using at least first and second frequency bands that are different from each other (any given base station of the invention (which the relay eNB is an example of) may communicate with a mobile device using a particular frequency band for the forward link and a different frequency band for the reverse link, according to [0119], Fig. 14 [elements 1402, 1416, 1418, and 1420]);
receive a data packet destined for an information processing device on a wide area network or the wireless terminal (the relay eNB receives a packet from a donor eNB that is destined for a UE, according to [0086]);
transmit the data packet destined for the another access point device to the another access point device (the relay eNB transmits the packet to the downstream relay eNB, according to [0086]).
Ho does not expressly disclose that the circuitry is configured to: include at least a part of the data packet that is received in a payload portion of a data packet destined for another access point device.
Hirano discloses that the circuitry is configured to: include at least a part of the data packet that is received in a payload portion of a data packet destined for another access point device (an LMA (local mobility anchor) encapsulates a received packet into the payload of another packet and sends that packet to an MAG [“another access point device”], according to [0249]-[0250], [0259], [0262]-[0263], Figs. 11-12 [steps 1120, 1125, 1225, 1228, 1260, and 1265]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho with Hirano such that the circuitry is configured to: include at least a part of the data packet that is received in a payload portion of a data packet destined for another access point device.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that a mobile node is reachable at its home address even when said mobile node is in a visited network (Hirano: [0002]).
Regarding claim 9, Ho discloses a communication control device connected to a first access point device and a second access point device each being configured to communicate with a wireless terminal by using at least first and second frequency bands that are different from each other (disclosed is a donor eNB [“communication control device”] that is connected to a plurality of relay eNBs [“a first access point device and a second access point device”], each of which may communicate with a UE, according to [0044], [0058], [0075], Figs. 1 and 3 [elements 102, 104, and 108]), the communication control device comprising:
circuitry configured to:
receive a data packet destined for the wireless terminal (the packet communicating component of the donor eNB receives a packet from a core network that is intended for the UE that is communicating with a relay eNB, according to [0059], [0075], Fig. 3 [elements 102 and 302]);
transmit the data packet destined for the first access point device to the first access point device by using one of the first and second frequency bands (the donor eNB provides access links to relay eNBs wirelessly, according to [0045]); and
transmit the data packet destined for the second access point device to the second access point device by using the other of the first and second frequency bands (the donor eNB transmits the packet received from the core network to the relay eNB, according to [0061]).
Ho does not expressly disclose that the circuitry is configured to include at least a part of the data packet that is received in a payload portion of a data packet destined for the first access point device; and include at least a part of the data packet that is received in a payload portion of a data packet destined for the second access point device.
Hirano discloses that the circuitry is configured to include at least a part of the data packet that is received in a payload portion of a data packet destined for the first access point device; and include at least a part of the data packet that is received in a payload portion of a data packet destined for the second access point device (an HA (home agent) encapsulates a packet that is received from a CN (correspondent node) into the payload of another packet and sends that packet to an MAG [“first access point device”] by way of an LMA [“second access point device”], according to [0258]-[0259], Fig. 12 [steps 1220, 1225, and 1228]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho with Hirano such that the circuitry is configured to include at least a part of the data packet that is received in a payload portion of a data packet destined for the first access point device; and include at least a part of the data packet that is received in a payload portion of a data packet destined for the second access point device.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that a mobile node is reachable at its home address even when said mobile node is in a visited network (Hirano: [0002]).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Additionally, Ho discloses that the circuitry is further configured to start receiving the data packet destined for the access point device that includes the data packet destined for the wireless terminal, after establishing a communication path with the wireless terminal using the one of the first and second frequency bands (the relay eNB relays a plurality of packets to the UE (therefore, for any packet other than the first packet, a connection with the UE has already been established), according to [0086]), and
establish a communication path with the wireless terminal, using the other of the first and second frequency bands while performing communication using the one of the first and second frequency bands (a base station communicates with a mobile device using frequency division duplex (FDD), which entails the frequency band used for the uplink and the frequency band used for the downlink being different, according to [0119]).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 3. Additionally, Ho discloses that the circuitry is further configured to:
receive information on a destination address of the another access point device from the another access point device (the relay eNB receives, from another relay eNB, the IP address of that relay eNB for communicating therewith, according to [0079], [0093]);
include at least a part of the data packet that is received in the data packet destined for the another access point device (the relay eNB defines a context for decompressing a compressed packet header that includes static data for said header (such as an IP address), and sends corresponding decompression parameters, according to [0094], Fig. 6 [steps 602, 604, and 606]); and
transmit the data packet destined for the another access point device to the destination address of the another access point device (using the IP address, the relay eNB transmits the compressed packet to the other relay eNB by way of the donor eNB, according to [0094], Fig. 6 [steps 608, 610, and 612]).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 9. Additionally, Ho discloses that the data packet destined for the second access point device includes a part of the data packet which part is not included in the data packet destined for the first access point device (the packets sent from the donor eNB to respective relay eNBs have differing respective non-static data, according to [0049]).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 9. Additionally, Ho discloses that the circuitry is further configured to
receive a data packet destined for the communication control device from the first access point device or the second access point device (the donor eNB receives a packet from a relay eNB, according to [0059]),
reconstruct a data packet destined for an information processing device on a wide area network from the data packet destined for the communication control device (the donor eNB reconstructs a packet received from a relay eNB, according to [0052]), and
transmit the data packet destined for the information processing device via the wide area network (the donor eNB transmits a packet to a relay eNB, according to [0059]).
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Ho does not expressly disclose that the data packet destined for the wireless terminal includes extracting a payload portion from the data packet destined for the access point device.
Hirano discloses that the data packet destined for the wireless terminal includes extracting a payload portion from the data packet destined for the access point device (the MAG decapsulates the tunneled packet by removing the outer tunnel and forwarding the inner packet to the MN, according to [0250], [0259], [0263], Figs. 11-12 [steps 1130, 1230, and 1270]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano with Hirano such that the data packet destined for the wireless terminal includes extracting a payload portion from the data packet destined for the access point device.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that a mobile node is reachable at its home address even when said mobile node is in a visited network (Hirano: [0002]).
6. Claims 5-6 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho in view of Hirano as applied to claims 3-4 and 9 above, further in view of Lu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2018/0288602 (hereinafter Lu).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 3.
Neither Ho nor Hirano expressly discloses that the circuitry is further configured to start transmission of the data packet to the another access point device after the circuitry is notified of start of roaming from the another access point device.
Lu discloses that the circuitry is further configured to start transmission of the data packet to the another access point device after the circuitry is notified of start of roaming from the another access point device (a second wireless bridge is notified by way of a first wireless bridge of the initiating of roaming mode with a target access point, whereby the second wireless bridge then connects to the target access point (which entails the second wireless bridge sending packets to the target access point, according to [0044]), according to Abstract, [0025], [0045], Fig. 7 [steps 704, 708, 710, and 716]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano with Lu such that the circuitry is further configured to start transmission of the data packet to the another access point device after the circuitry is notified of start of roaming from the another access point device.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize roaming latency and packet loss (Lu: [0002]).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 4.
Neither Ho nor Hirano expressly discloses that the circuitry is further configured to receive a notification of end of the roaming from the another access point device that has established both a communication path using the first frequency band and a communication path using the second frequency band.
Lu discloses that the circuitry is further configured to receive a notification of end of the roaming from the another access point device that has established both a communication path using the first frequency band and a communication path using the second frequency band (a second wireless bridge is notified by way of a first wireless bridge that it is no longer in roaming mode, according to [0025], [0045], Fig. 7 [steps 710, 716, 718, and 720], whereby the wireless bridge communicates via a plurality of frequency bands, according to [0032]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano with Lu such that the circuitry is further configured to receive a notification of end of the roaming from the another access point device that has established both a communication path using the first frequency band and a communication path using the second frequency band.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize roaming latency and packet loss (Lu: [0002]).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 9.
Neither Ho nor Hirano expressly discloses that the circuitry is further configured to start transmission of the data packet to the first access point device after roaming is started and a communication path is established between the first access point device and the wireless terminal, and start transmission of the data packet to the second access point device after the roaming is started and a communication path is established between the second access point device and the wireless terminal.
Lu discloses that the circuitry is further configured to start transmission of the data packet to the first access point device after roaming is started and a communication path is established between the first access point device and the wireless terminal, and start transmission of the data packet to the second access point device after the roaming is started and a communication path is established between the second access point device and the wireless terminal (after roaming is started, a target access point transmits packets to a first wireless bridge and a second wireless bridge, according to Abstract, [0025], [0045]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano with Lu such that the circuitry is further configured to start transmission of the data packet to the first access point device after roaming is started and a communication path is established between the first access point device and the wireless terminal, and start transmission of the data packet to the second access point device after the roaming is started and a communication path is established between the second access point device and the wireless terminal.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize roaming latency and packet loss (Lu: [0002]).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Ho, Hirano, and Lu discloses all the limitations of claim 11.
Neither Ho nor Hirano expressly discloses that the circuitry is further configured to terminate the transmission of the data packet to the first access point device after the roaming is terminated and a communication path is not established between the first access point device and the wireless terminal, and terminate the transmission of the data packet to the second access point device after the roaming is terminated and a communication path is not established between the second access point device and the wireless terminal.
Lu discloses that the circuitry is further configured to terminate the transmission of the data packet to the first access point device after the roaming is terminated and a communication path is not established between the first access point device and the wireless terminal, and terminate the transmission of the data packet to the second access point device after the roaming is terminated and a communication path is not established between the second access point device and the wireless terminal (roaming mode for both wireless bridges is ended, according to [0025], [0045]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano as modified by Lu with Lu such that the circuitry is further configured to terminate the transmission of the data packet to the first access point device after the roaming is terminated and a communication path is not established between the first access point device and the wireless terminal, and terminate the transmission of the data packet to the second access point device after the roaming is terminated and a communication path is not established between the second access point device and the wireless terminal.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize roaming latency and packet loss (Lu: [0002]).
7. Claims 7-8 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho in view of Hirano as applied to claims 3 and 9 above, further in view of Emmanuel et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2015/0105121 (hereinafter Emmanuel).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 3.
Neither Ho nor Hirano expressly discloses that data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the first frequency band and data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the second frequency band are the same.
Emmanuel discloses that data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the first frequency band and data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the second frequency band are the same (a load balancing module (which is part of an access point, according to [0080], Fig. 4) sends multiple copies of the same packet over different bands, according to [0098]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano with Emmanuel such that data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the first frequency band and data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the second frequency band are the same.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to ensure that delay is minimized (Emmanuel: [0098]).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 3.
Neither Ho nor Hirano expressly discloses that data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the first frequency band and data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the second frequency band are different from each other.
Emmanuel discloses that data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the first frequency band and data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the second frequency band are different from each other (different portions of data can be sent over two respective channels that belong to different bands, according to [0099]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano with Emmanuel such that data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the first frequency band and data transmitted to the wireless terminal through a communication path using the second frequency band are different from each other.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase the likelihood that transmitted data can be recovered at a receiver (Emmanuel: [0099]).
Claim 14 does not differ substantively from claim 7, and is therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 7.
8. Claims 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho in view of Hirano as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Henry et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2022/0338010 (hereinafter Henry).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Neither Ho nor Hirano expressly discloses that the circuitry is further configured to: receive a request for roaming from the wireless terminal; establish a communication path with the wireless terminal, using the one of the first and second frequency bands, after receiving the request for roaming; and notify another access point device of start of the roaming and receive the data packet destined for the access point device from the another access point device.
Henry discloses that the circuitry is further configured to:
receive a request for roaming from the wireless terminal (a first access point (AP) receives a roaming request from a wireless station (STA) to roam to a second access point that is associated with a second access network provider (ANP), according to Abstract, [0047], Fig. 5 [step 506]);
establish a communication path with the wireless terminal, using the one of the first and second frequency bands, after receiving the request for roaming (the first AP establishes a communication path for the STA with the second ANP, according to [0048]-[0052], Fig. 5 [steps 508, 510, 512, 514, 516, and 518]); and
notify another access point device of start of the roaming and receive the data packet destined for the access point device from the another access point device (the first access point relays the roaming request to the second access point, according to [0048]-[0052], Fig. 5 [steps 508, 510, 512, 514, 516, and 518], whereby a success message is sent from the second ANP to the wireless local area network (LAN) controller (WLC) that is associated with the first AP (which may be the first AP itself, according to [0019]), according to [0054], Fig. 5 [step 522]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano with Henry such that the circuitry is further configured to: receive a request for roaming from the wireless terminal; establish a communication path with the wireless terminal, using the one of the first and second frequency bands, after receiving the request for roaming; and notify another access point device of start of the roaming and receive the data packet destined for the access point device from the another access point device.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate a high quality of service for real-time applications during roaming (Henry: [0002]-[0003]).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Ho, Hirano, and Henry discloses all the limitations of claim 15. Additionally, Ho discloses that the circuitry is further configured to
receive from the wireless terminal a data packet destined for an information processing device on a wide area network, after establishing the communication path with the wireless terminal (the relay eNB receives, from the UE, a packet that is destined for the donor eNB, according to [0086]);
include the data packet destined for the information processing device on the wide area network in a data packet destined for the another access point device (relay eNB processes the received packet header using a filter mask identifier and a decompression context, thereby creating a modified packet that includes the data that was received from the UE, according to [0086]); and
transmit the data packet destined for the another access point device to the another access point device (the relay eNB transmits the modified packet to the donor eNB).
9. Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho in view of Hirano in view of Henry as applied to claim 15 above, further in view of Emmanuel, further in view of Lu.
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Ho, Hirano, and Henry discloses all the limitations of claim 15.
Neither Ho, Hirano, nor Henry expressly discloses that the circuitry is further configured to establish another communication path with the wireless terminal, using the other of the first and second frequency bands, and notify the another access point device of end of the roaming.
Emmanuel discloses that the circuitry is further configured to establish another communication path with the wireless terminal, using the other of the first and second frequency bands (multiple links between two wireless devices are maintained via respective frequency bands, according to [0098]-[0099]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano as modified by Henry with Emmanuel such that the circuitry is further configured to establish another communication path with the wireless terminal, using the other of the first and second frequency bands.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to ensure that delay is minimized (Emmanuel: [0098]).
Neither Ho, Hirano, Henry, nor Emmanuel expressly discloses that the circuitry is further configured to notify the another access point device of end of the roaming.
Lu discloses that the circuitry is further configured to notify the another access point device of end of the roaming (a wireless bridge informs another wireless bridge that roaming has ended, according to [0025], [0045]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano as modified by Henry as modified by Emmanuel with Lu such that the circuitry is further configured to notify the another access point device of end of the roaming.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to minimize roaming latency and packet loss (Lu: [0002]).
10. Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho in view of Hirano as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Shimizu, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2015/0043421 (hereinafter Shimizu).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Neither Ho nor Hirano expressly discloses that the data packet destined for the access point device includes a header portion including a media access control address of the access point device.
Shimizu discloses that the data packet destined for the access point device includes a header portion including a media access control address of the access point device (the destination address in a packet’s header is a MAC address, according to [0070]-[0071]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano with Shimizu such that the data packet destined for the access point device includes a header portion including a media access control address of the access point device.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate TCP proxy delegation (Shimizu: [0070]-[0073]).
11. Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho in view of Hirano as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Ren et al., CN 101110073 A (hereinafter Ren).
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Ho and Hirano discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Neither Ho nor Hirano expressly discloses that the data packet destined for the wireless terminal is encapsulated in a plurality of divided data packets across a plurality of data packets destined for the access point device.
Ren discloses that the data packet destined for the wireless terminal is encapsulated in a plurality of divided data packets across a plurality of data packets destined for the access point device (data is sent from a transmitting terminal to a receiving terminal by way of a wireless network by being divided into a plurality of packets, according to page 2 lines 3-13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ho as modified by Hirano with Ren such that the data packet destined for the wireless terminal is encapsulated in a plurality of divided data packets across a plurality of data packets destined for the access point device.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow the data to travel from transmitter to receiver via multiple paths (Ren: page 2 lines 3-13).
Conclusion
12. 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.
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/MATTHEW W GENACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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