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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The references listed in the Information Disclosure Statement, filed on 23 September 2024, 07 January 2026, have been considered by the examiner (see attached PTO-1449 form or PTO/SB/08A and 08B forms).
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-41 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-41 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332.
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches a system.
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: establishing one or more communication links between a plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application as in the application corresponds to the limitation “one or more processors … conference application” (claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 4-17);
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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “determining whether one … conference application” (claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 20-23);
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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “determining whether one or … conference application” (claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 24-27);
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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “selecting one or more … conference application” (claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 28-32); 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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “connecting the plurality … communications links” (claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 33-51).
However, the claim(s) additionally recite(s) “receiving a first set of data associated with a first set of communication links of one or more local networks associated with a communications network, wherein the first set of communication links is configured to establish connections between a plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application for accessing the conference communication via the at least one conference application; receiving a second set of data associated with a second set of communication links”, “the conference communication between the plurality of users of the at least one conference application is maintained in accordance with the pre-determined quality level defined, at least in part, by the at least one conference application, wherein the determination of whether one or more communication links of the second set of communication links satisfy the pre-determined quality occurs prior to connecting the plurality of communication devices via the selected one or more communications links”. In removing the additional limitation(s), the scope of the claim(s) is merely broadened by eliminating elements and their functions. It has been held that omission of an element and its function is an obvious expedient if the remaining elements perform the same function as before. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to not recite the additional limitation(s).
Regarding claim 2, claim 2 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches the one or more established communication links and the one or more alternate communication links are associated with a plurality of different communication technologies (claim 2 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-4).
Regarding claim 3, claim 3 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 3 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-6).
Regarding claim 4, claim 4 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 4 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-8).
Regarding claim 5, claim 5 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 5 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-11).
Regarding claim 6, claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 6 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-6).
Regarding claim 7, claim 7 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 7 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-7).
Regarding claim 8, claim 8 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 establishes communication amongst the plurality of communication devices using a plurality of different communication technologies associated with one or more of the local networks (claim 8 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-8).
Regarding claim 9, claim 9 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 9 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-10).
Regarding claim 10, claim 10 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 10 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-7).
Regarding claim 11, claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches the pre-determined quality level includes network specifications that allow the at least one conferencing application to operate as intended (claim 11 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-3).
Regarding claim 12, claim 12 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 12 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 13, claim 13 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 13 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-4).
Regarding claim 14, claim 14 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches each network overlay includes a linker, a router, one or more link monitors, and a control module (claim 14 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-3).
Regarding claim 15, claim 15 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 15 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1- 3).
Regarding claim 16, claim 16 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 16 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-11).
Regarding claim 17, claim 17 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 17 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-9).
Regarding claim 18, claim 18 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 18 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 19, claim 19 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 19 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-6).
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches the network overlay is configured to dynamically add one or more additional link monitors to monitor one or more other local networks as they become available (claim 20 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 21, claim 21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches a method.
establishing one or more communication links between a plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application as in the application corresponds to the limitation “receiving a first set … conference application” (claim 21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 4-12);
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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “determining whether one … conference application” (claim 21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 15-18);
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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “determining whether one … conference application” (claim 21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 19-22);
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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “selecting one or more … conference application” (claim 21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 23-27); 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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “connecting the plurality … pre-determined quality level” (claim 21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 28-36).
However, the claim(s) additionally recite(s) “receiving a first set of data associated with a first set of communication links of one or more local networks associated with a communications network, wherein the first set of communication links is configured to establish connections between a plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application for accessing the conference communication via the at least one conference application; receiving a second set of data associated with a second set of communication links”, “the conference communication between the plurality of users of the at least one conference application is maintained in accordance with the pre-determined quality level defined, at least in part, by the at least one conference application, wherein the determination of whether one or more communication links of the second set of communication links satisfy the pre-determined quality occurs prior to connecting the plurality of communication devices via the selected one or more communications links”. In removing the additional limitation(s), the scope of the claim(s) is merely broadened by eliminating elements and their functions. It has been held that omission of an element and its function is an obvious expedient if the remaining elements perform the same function as before. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to not recite the additional limitation(s).
Regarding claim 22, claim 22 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches the one or more established communication links and the one or more alternate communication links are associated with a plurality of different communication technologies (claim 22 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-4).
Regarding claim 23, claim 23 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 23 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-6).
Regarding claim 24, claim 24 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 24 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-8).
Regarding claim 25, claim 25 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 includes 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 (claim 25 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-11).
Regarding claim 26, claim 26 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 26 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-6).
Regarding claim 27, claim 27 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 27 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-7).
Regarding claim 28, claim 28 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 establishes communication amongst the plurality of communication devices using a plurality of different communication technologies associated with one or more of the local networks (claim 28 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-8).
Regarding claim 29, claim 29 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches the one or more programs include instructions for 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 (claim 29 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-8).
Regarding claim 30, claim 30 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 30 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-7).
Regarding claim 31, claim 31 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches the pre-determined quality level includes network specifications that allow the at least one conferencing application to operate as intended (claim 31 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-3).
Regarding claim 32, claim 32 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 32 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 33, claim 33 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 33 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-4).
Regarding claim 34, claim 34 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches each network overlay includes a linker, a router, one or more link monitors, and a control module (claim 34 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-3).
Regarding claim 35, claim 35 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 35 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-3).
Regarding claim 36, claim 36 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 36 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-11).
Regarding claim 37, claim 37 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 37 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-9).
Regarding claim 38, claim 38 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 38 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 39, claim 39 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches 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 (claim 39 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-6).
Regarding claim 40, claim 40 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches the network overlay is configured to dynamically add one or more additional link monitors to monitor one or more other local networks as they become available (claim 40 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 1-4).
Regarding claim 41, claim 41 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 teaches a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs.
establish one or more communication links between a plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application as in the application corresponds to the limitation “receive a first set … conference application” (claim 41 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 8-16);
determine 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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “determine whether one or … conference application” (claim 41 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 19-22);
determine 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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “determine whether one or … conference application” (claim 41 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 23-26);
select 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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “select one or more .. conference application” (claim 41 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 27-30); and
connect 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 as in the application corresponds to the limitation “connect the plurality … pre-determined quality level” (claim 41 of U.S. Patent No. 11,979,332 lines 31-38).
However, the claim(s) additionally recite(s) “receive a first set of data associated with a first set of communication links of one or more local networks associated with a communications network, wherein the first set of communication links is configured to establish connections between a plurality of communication devices of the plurality of users of the at least one conference application for accessing the conference communication via the at least one conference application; receive a second set of data associated with a second set of communication links”, “the conference communication between the plurality of users of the at least one conference application is maintained in accordance with the pre-determined quality level defined, at least in part, by the at least one conference application, wherein the determination of whether one or more communication links of the second set of communication links satisfy the pre-determined quality occurs prior to connecting the plurality of communication devices via the selected one or more communications links”. In removing the additional limitation(s), the scope of the claim(s) is merely broadened by eliminating elements and their functions. It has been held that omission of an element and its function is an obvious expedient if the remaining elements perform the same function as before. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to not recite the additional limitation(s).
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 associated with one or more of the local networks (“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 conferencing 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 other 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).
Conclusion
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CHRISTINE DUONG FUQUA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2462
/CHRISTINE T DUONG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462 04/02/2026
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