DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to the Applicant's arguments and amendments filed on 14 July 2026 in which claims 1-41 are currently pending.
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.
Claims 1-12, 21-32, 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Calin et al. (PG Pub US 2019/0150150 A1) in view of Gordon et al. (PG Pub US 2019/0361694 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 21, 41, Calin discloses a system, a method and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium.
one or more processors; memory; one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for (figs. 1-3): establishing one or more communication links between a plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application (“an established service flow” [0077], “applications (e.g., video conferencing” [0037]);
determining whether the one or more established communication links satisfy a pre-determined quality level defined, at least in part, by the at least one conference application (“the network controller determines that the current measured throughput for the service flow does not meet the minimum quality requirements” [0099]);
determining whether one or more alternate communication links satisfy the pre-determined quality level defined, at least in part, by the at least one conference application (“the network controller selects the best available access channel. Some embodiments of the network controller select the access channel with the highest estimated spared bandwidth, new_Ch_Est_Spare_BW, as the best available channel” [0107]);
selecting one or more alternate communication links that have been determined to satisfy the pre-determined quality level defined, at least in part, by the at least one conference application (“the network controller determines whether a path reselection or path switching procedure should be triggered for an established service flow due to the performance degradation of the established service flow” [0077], “(e.g., Wi-Fi gets selected over LTE for best effort traffic and LTE gets selected over Wi-Fi for interactive streaming video traffic)” [0068]); and
connecting the plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application via the selected one or more alternate communication links that have been determined to satisfy the pre-determined quality level if one or more established communication links is determined to not satisfy the pre-determined quality level (“the network controller switches or redirects the reference service flow to the newly found available access channel” [0109]).
However, Calin does not explicitly disclose by the at least one conference application.
Nevertheless, Gordon discloses “video conference application”, “once the channel bandwidth has been reserved, the mobility manager may consider the condition to be positive (i.e. permissible to establish a video conference)” [0836].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a conference application because “the mobility manager may be configured to handoff to an available access network with a lower delivery cost such as WiFi or 4G” [0837].
Regarding claims 2, 22, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Calin discloses the one or more established communication links and the one or more alternate communication links are associated with a plurality of different communication technologies (“paths mapped to different access technologies” [0037]).
Regarding claims 3, 23, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Calin discloses the plurality of different communication technologies includes one or more of high frequency (HF) communication technology, 4G radio communication technology, 5G radio communication technology, WI-FI communication technology, and an IP-based network protocol communication technology (“multiple access technologies (e.g., 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi)” [0029]).
Regarding claims 4, 24, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Calin discloses maximize a communications network quality based on the determination of whether the one or more established communication links and the one or more alternate communication links satisfy the pre-determined quality level (“enable the highest quality-of-experience (QoE) to users while maintaining high network utilization” [0027], “select the access channel with the highest estimated spared bandwidth” [0107]).
Regarding claims 5, 25, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gordon discloses implementing a make-before-break protocol that connects the plurality of communication devices via the selected one or more alternate communication links of before disconnecting the one or more established communication links that have been determined to not satisfy the pre-determined quality level (“The handoff may be accomplished based on a make and break model where the second session to the new access network and/or device is first initiated by the network, and for an instance in time there may be two active sessions for that mobile device. On the confirmation of a successful establishment of the second session, the first session may be terminated” [0836]).
Regarding claims 6, 26, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gordon discloses the one or more established communication links are actively being used by the plurality of communication devices and the one or more alternate communication links are not actively being used by the plurality of communication devices until the make-before-break protocol is implemented (“The handoff may be accomplished based on a make and break model where the second session to the new access network and/or device is first initiated by the network, and for an instance in time there may be two active sessions for that mobile device. On the confirmation of a successful establishment of the second session, the first session may be terminated” [0836]).
Regarding claims 7, 27, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Calin discloses upon connecting the plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application via the selected one or more alternate communication links, transmitting application data via the selected one or more alternate communication links (“the network controller switches or redirects the reference service flow to the newly found available access channel” [0109]).
Regarding claims 8, 28, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Calin discloses establishes communication amongst the plurality of communication devices using a plurality of different communication technologies (“multiple access technologies (e.g., 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi)” [0029]).
Regarding claims 9, 29, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gordon discloses disconnecting the plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application from the one or more established communication links that have been determined to not satisfy the pre-determined quality level after connecting the plurality of communication devices via the selected one or more alternate communication links (“The handoff may be accomplished based on a make and break model where the second session to the new access network and/or device is first initiated by the network, and for an instance in time there may be two active sessions for that mobile device. On the confirmation of a successful establishment of the second session, the first session may be terminated” [0836]).
Regarding claims 10, 30, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Calin discloses the determination of whether the one or more established communication links satisfy the pre-determined quality level includes an assessment of whether the one or more established communication links are degrading towards a level below the pre-determined quality level (“performance degradation of the established service flow .. perform path reselection or path switching by comparing one or more quality metrics (e.g., measured throughput and/or measured intra-packet delay of the service flow) to a reference quality threshold” [0077]).
Regarding claims 11, 31, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Calin discloses the pre-determined quality level includes network specifications that allow the at least one conference application to operate as intended (“an access channel is considered available if it has sufficient bandwidth and/or acceptable latency to accommodate the new service flow” [0066]).
Regarding claims 12, 32, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Calin discloses the pre-determined quality level includes thresholds for quality of service features for conferencing, and wherein the quality of service features include one or more of packet error rate, latency, throughput, and jitter (“the network controller identifies any access channels that are available to connect to the mobile device. The available access channels are determined based on defined QoE criteria, which can include an offer to QOS per application class such as throughput or packet delay, jitter” [0066], “applications (e.g., video conferencing” [0037]).
Claims 13-20, 33-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Calin, Gordon further in view of Gao et al. (PG Pub US 2004/0067754 A1).
Regarding claims 13, 33, Calin, Gordon discloses everything claimed as applied above. However, Calin, Gordon does not explicitly disclose a plurality of network overlays, wherein each communication device of the plurality of communication devices is associated with a network overlay of the plurality of network overlays.
Nevertheless, Gao discloses “a hyper operator builds a specialized handover network and utilizes bi-lateral contracts with main operators to employ specialized gateways and handover paths. When handover occurs, the gateway in each domain contacts the hyper operator's overlay network to accomplish the handover process” [0013].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a plurality of network overlays, wherein each communication device of the plurality of communication devices is associated with a network overlay of the plurality of network overlays because it will “support vertical handover between heterogeneous networks” [0012].
Regarding claims 14, 34, Calin, Gordon, Gao discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gao discloses each network overlay includes a linker, a router, one or more link monitors, and a control module (“a handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 is introduced in the administration domains 202, 204 to administer traffic during the vertical handover” [0023], “Domain one 202, Domain two 204 and the Internet domain 206 also include other telecommunications components such as routers (R) 210 and antennas or access points (AP) 212. The Internet 206 routers include gateway (GW) routers 214 that connect to the foreign agent (FA) gateway (GW) routers 216 of Domain one 202 and Domain two 204. The routers also include access routers (AR) 218 that can be accessed by antennas or access points (AP) 212 and that can be accessed by other components such as home agent 220. The corresponding node (CN) 222, e.g., the communication peer of mobile host, can access the Internet domain 206 via other routers, such as an edge router (ER) 224” [0024].
Regarding claims 15, 35, Calin, Gordon, Gao discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gao discloses the linker is configured to receive the pre-determined quality level and data associated with the one or more established communication links and the one or more alternate communication links (“the handover gateways (HO-GW) 208 can learn and update neighborhood databases and establish MPLS paths (M1 and M2 are used only as an example, multiple paths could be established based on the requirements) having different QOS parameters to each neighboring network. The handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 can also communicate with other handover gateways (HO-GW) in the same administration domain to accommodate performance and scalability. The handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 monitors and maintains the MPLS paths and reports related QOS parameters to the access routers (AR) 218 to achieve new admission control algorithms. The handover gateways (HO-GW) 208 can also handle signaling and tunneling tasks to begin and end handover traffics” [0032]).
Regarding claims 16, 36, Calin, Gordon, Gao discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gao discloses the linker is configured to: receive application data, receive conference quality data associated with monitored quality of service features from the one or more link monitors, transmit the conference quality data to the router configured to select if the one or more alternate communication links should be used based on conference quality data and to generate a routing table based on the selection, receive the routing table from the router, and transmit the application data to a next destination based on the routing table (“the handover gateways (HO-GW) 208 can learn and update neighborhood databases and establish MPLS paths (M1 and M2 are used only as an example, multiple paths could be established based on the requirements) having different QOS parameters to each neighboring network. The handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 can also communicate with other handover gateways (HO-GW) in the same administration domain to accommodate performance and scalability. The handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 monitors and maintains the MPLS paths and reports related QOS parameters to the access routers (AR) 218 to achieve new admission control algorithms. The handover gateways (HO-GW) 208 can also handle signaling and tunneling tasks to begin and end handover traffics” [0032], “Monitoring and reporting functions of the handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 can report the traffic load” [0040], “The hyper operator overlay network (HO-OL) 510 can control several functions, such as, establishing the MPLS paths, monitoring and maintaining the traffic in the MPLS paths M1 and M2, and cooperating with the access router (AR) 218 to perform the admission control. The handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 would then administer local optimization, such as by providing QOS support in the administration domain” [0047], “Because the hyper operator overlay network (HO-OL) 510 has global knowledge of each administration domain, optimal vertical handover performance could be achieved. The hyper operator overlay network (HO-OL) 510 can interact with related routers located in the core network to support QOS routing and accelerate the reservation process of the new path. The hyper operator overlay network (HO-OL) 510 can also address other related policy issues such as security and AAA (authentication, authorization, accounting), and the like, which are generally not easy for one operator” [0048], [0031]).
Regarding claims 17, 37, Calin, Gordon, Gao discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gao discloses the linker is configured to receive quality data from the one or more link monitors, wherein the quality data received from the one or more link monitors is associated with performance of the one or more established communication links and performance of the one or more alternate communication links based on quality of service features, and wherein the quality of service features include one or more of packet error rate, latency, throughput, and jitter (“The hyper operator overlay network (HO-OL) 510 can control several functions, such as, establishing the MPLS paths, monitoring and maintaining the traffic in the MPLS paths M1 and M2, and cooperating with the access router (AR) 218 to perform the admission control” [0047], “Some of the QOS parameters influencing applications include delay, loss and bandwidth” [0034], “Monitoring and reporting functions of the handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 can report the traffic load” [0040]).
Regarding claims 18, 38, Calin, Gordon, Gao discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gao discloses the linker is configured to receive application data and transmit the application data to another linker of another network overlay via the one or more established communication links or the one or more alternate communication links (“a handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 is introduced in the administration domains 202, 204 to administer traffic during the vertical handover” [0023], “The handover gateways (HO-GW) 208 are responsible for handover traffics of the multiple access routers (AR) 218. .. the handover gateways (HO-GW) 208 in each administration domain identifies adjacent handover gateways of other operators” [0030]).
Regarding claims 19, 39, Calin, Gordon, Gao discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gao discloses the linker is configured to receive control messages from outside the network overlay, pass the control messages to the control module, receive a response to the control messages from the control module, and transmit the response outside the network overlay (“The hyper operator overlay network (HO-OL) can exist in the Internet domain 206 which interacts with the related gateways in the administration domains, e.g., Domain one 202 and Domain two 204. The hyper operator overlay network (HO-OL) 510 can reduce the number of tasks performed by the handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 in the administration domains. The hyper operator overlay network (HO-OL) 510 can control several functions, such as, establishing the MPLS paths, monitoring and maintaining the traffic in the MPLS paths M1 and M2, and cooperating with the access router (AR) 218 to perform the admission control. The handover gateway (HO-GW) 208 would then administer local optimization, such as by providing QOS support in the administration domain” [0047]).
Regarding claims 20, 40, Calin, Gordon, Gao discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Gao discloses the network overlay is configured to dynamically add one or more additional link monitors to monitor one or more local networks as they become available (“QOS support systems are shown using a hyper operator overly (HO-OL) architecture or a distributed architecture. The architectures include vertical handover gateways (HO-GW) 208 to support seamless vertical handovers” [0049], “The QOS support system 200 interacts with administration domains and provides necessary monitoring, signaling and maintenance functions to help guarantee QOS support during a vertical handover and new path reservation period” [0022], where it would be obvious to add more monitors as the network grows).
Response to Arguments
Previous nonstatutory double patenting rejection to claims 1-41 are withdrawn in view of Applicant's amendment.
Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants have argued regarding claim 1 that “This selection criterion does not include a pre-determined quality level that is defined at least in part by the at least one conference application. Having the highest estimated spared bandwidth does not mean that an alternate access channel satisfies a pre-determined quality level defined at least in part by the at least one conference application. Instead, the alternate access channel is only selected based on its relative bandwidth compared to other access channels. Calin is silent on any pre-determined quality level defined at least in part by the at least one conference application” (page 14).
In response to Applicants’ argument, the examiner respectfully disagrees. Calin discloses “the network controller selects the best available access channel. Some embodiments of the network controller select the access channel with the highest estimated spared bandwidth, new_Ch_Est_Spare_BW, as the best available channel” [0107], “the network controller has determined that the latest weighted throughput measurement sample is below the quality threshold for the current service flow” [0103], “the network controller has determined that all the measurement samples yield unsatisfactory results. Therefore, the network controller determines whether other access channels are available to serve the reference service flow” [0106]. This shows a predetermined quality level/threshold specific to an application/service flow. The independent claim does not further define what the claimed limitation “pre-determined quality level defined, at least in part, by the at least one conference application” represent and is interpreted with its broadest reasonable interpretation. Therefore, a combination of Calin and Gordon discloses the limitations of claim 1.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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CHRISTINE DUONG FUQUA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2462
/CHRISTINE T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462 09/08/2026
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