DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Cross Reference to Related Applications
2. This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210122845.2, filed on February 9, 2022 and entitled "NETWORK ACCESS DEVICE,5 SYSEM, AND COMMUNICATION METHOD".
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Claims status
4. This office action is a response to an application filed on February 20, 2024 in which claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
Based on the Preliminary Amendment filed on February 20, 2024, the listing of claims replace all prior versions, and listings, of claims in the application.
Drawings
5. The Examiner contends that the drawings submitted on February 20, 2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Information Disclosure Statement
6. The Examiner has considered the reference(s) listed on the Information Disclosure Statements submitted on February 20, 2024, September 26, 2024 and February 26, 2025.
Claim Objections (minor informality)
7. Claims 16 and 20 are objected to because of the following informality:
Regarding claim 16, the claim recites the term "… so that.…." which is not a positively cited claim language. Language that suggests or makes optional/intended use (for example, “so that”; “thereby”; “capable of”; “adapted to”; “able to”; “enable to”; “can be”; “may be”; “should be”; “….able”; “combinable”; “configurable”) but does not require steps to be performed or does not limit a claim to a particular structure does not limit the scope of a claim or claim limitation(s). Such clauses may render parts of the claims optional (see MPEP 2106 and 2111.04). [Note: The term may raise a question as to the limiting effect of the language in a claim. A similar alternative term is “configured to” or a positive action verb to perform the function without any unnecessary ambiguity].
Regarding claim 20, the claim recites “…,the communication method according to claim 12 is implemented”. For clarity and consistency, it is suggested to incorporate steps/processes recited in claim 12 into claim 20.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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 of this title, 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.
9. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHAN et al. (US 2018/0309683 A1), hereinafter “Chan” in view of CN 113949636 A (as submitted by the applicant with IDS dated September 26, 2024 and attached machine translation), hereinafter “CN’636”.
Regarding claim 1, Chan discloses a network access device (Figs. 1A-1B, methods and systems for restricting data usage at a network device), comprising: a processor and at least one communication interface for realizing detachable connection (Figs. 1A-1B); the processor is connected with the at least one communication interface respectively; the processor is configured to:
detect whether each communication interface (paragraphs [0004], [0064], database lookup to check whether there is an entry corresponding to identity) in the at least one communication interface is detachably (paragraphs [0004], [0064], when first/second SIM card is inserted in the device) connected with an external cellular communication device (paragraphs [0004], [0064], first or second SIM cards).
While Zhou implicitly refers to “determine an available cellular communication device according to a detection result; and establish, based on the available cellular communication device, an aggregation link for data transmission between the network access device and a target server” (paragraph [0064], one of the benefits of housing more than one SIM card is that the connections of the more than one SIM cards can be aggregated together to form an aggregated connection with increased bandwidth), CN’636 from the same or similar field of endeavor explicitly discloses determine an available cellular communication device (page 5, line 12-25, page 6, line 34-40, SIM cards of different communication providers inserted into plurality of mobile modules; parameters of sub communication link) according to a detection result (page 5, line 12-25, page 6, line 34-40, communication parameters including parameters such as bandwidth, transmission rate, signal quality and signal strength); and
establish (page 6, line 9-12, line 25-28, page 8, line 1-4, communication with the server), based on the available cellular communication device (page 6, line 9-12, line 25-28, page 8, line 1-4, sub-communication link through plurality of mobile communication modules), an aggregation link for data transmission (page 6, line 9-12, line 25-28, page 8, line 1-4, aggregation link request) between the network access device and a target server (page 6, line 9-12, line 25-28, page 8, line 1-4, applying for a bandwidth resource for video transmission to a scheduling center of the server, so as to establish an aggregation link with aggregation server).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “determine an available cellular communication device according to a detection result; and establish, based on the available cellular communication device, an aggregation link for data transmission between the network access device and a target server” as taught by CN’636, in the system of Chan, so that it would provide transmission scheme to solve low stability of user’s access to the network and low availability of the network, conditions result in reducing the user experience (CN’636, page 3, line 27-33).
Regarding claim 2, Chan discloses the processor is further configured to: generate a list of the available cellular communication device according to the available cellular communication device (paragraphs [0004], [0064], restricting or not restricting data usage is performed for each of the plurality of SIM cards or WAN interfaces); and distribute data to be transmitted to each available cellular communication device recorded in the list of the available cellular communication device when the data to be transmitted is received from a terminal device (paragraphs [0004], [0064], when a first SIM card is inserted in first device 100, processing unit 130 performs a database lookup on the first database to check whether there is an entry corresponding to identity of the first SIM card; when a second SIM card is inserted in first device 100, processing unit 130 initializes an entry corresponding to the identity of the second SIM card), for transmission to the target server by each available cellular communication device through the aggregation link between the network access device and the target server (paragraphs [0004], [0064], connections of the more than one SIM cards can be aggregated together to form an aggregated connection with increased bandwidth).
Regarding claim 3, Chan discloses the processor is further configured to: determine an idle communication interface from the at least one communication interface according to the list of the available cellular communication device (paragraphs [0004], [0064], restricting or not restricting data usage is performed for each of the plurality of SIM cards or WAN interfaces);
when it is detected that the idle communication interface is detachably connected with an external cellular communication device, update the aggregation link between the network access device and the target server based on the cellular communication device detachably connected with the idle communication interface (paragraphs [0004], [0064], when a first SIM card is inserted in first device 100, processing unit 130 performs a database lookup on the first database to check whether there is an entry corresponding to identity of the first SIM card; when a second SIM card is inserted in first device 100, processing unit 130 initializes an entry corresponding to the identity of the second SIM card); and update the list of the available cellular communication device according to the cellular communication device detachably connected with the idle communication interface (paragraphs [0004], [0064], connections of the more than one SIM cards can be aggregated together to form an aggregated connection with increased bandwidth).
Regarding claim 4, Chan in view of CN’636 disclose the network access device according to claim 2.
CN’636 further discloses the processor is further configured to: determine, according to the list of the available cellular communication device, a non-idle communication interface from the at least one communication interface (page 6, flow table entries of flow tables corresponding to a plurality of communication links according to total data amount to be sent and data amount shares which can be respectively sent by plurality of sub-communication links; sub communication links correspond to flow tables one to one); and
update the list of the available cellular communication device when it is detected that a cellular communication device detachably connected with the non-idle communication interface has been detached (page 9, mobile communication module vis I/O interface; plurality of mobile communication modules for accessing communication networks of different communication service providers).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “the processor is further configured to: determine, according to the list of the available cellular communication device, a non-idle communication interface from the at least one communication interface; and update the list of the available cellular communication device when it is detected that a cellular communication device detachably connected with the non-idle communication interface has been detached” as taught by CN’636, in the system of Chan, so that it would provide transmission scheme to solve low stability of user’s access to the network and low availability of the network, conditions result in reducing the user experience (CN’636, page 3, line 27-33).
Regarding claim 5, Chan in view of CN’636 disclose the network access device according to claim 2.
CN’636 further discloses the processor is specifically configured to: acquire a link quality of a first sub-link corresponding to each available cellular communication device recorded in the list of the available cellular communication device when the data to be transmitted is received from the terminal device (page 5, sub communication link may be used to characterize the capability of the sub communication link to transmit data, and the communication parameters may include parameters such as bandwidth, transmission rate, signal quality, and signal strength); and
distribute, according to the link quality, the data to be transmitted to each available cellular communication device recorded in the list of the available cellular communication device (page 6, communication parameters of the sub-communication link can be obtained by obtaining parameter information of the mobile communication module, performing network parameter test on the sub-communication link and the like);
wherein the aggregation link between the network access device and the target server comprises the first sub-link corresponding to each available cellular communication device recorded in the list of the available cellular communication device (page 6, determining the communication quality of the plurality of sub-communication links and the total communication quality corresponding to the plurality of sub-communication links included in the aggregation link according to the communication parameters of the plurality of sub-communication links).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “the processor is specifically configured to: acquire a link quality of a first sub-link corresponding to each available cellular communication device recorded in the list of the available cellular communication device when the data to be transmitted is received from the terminal device; and distribute, according to the link quality, the data to be transmitted to each available cellular communication device recorded in the list of the available cellular communication device; wherein the aggregation link between the network access device and the target server comprises the first sub-link corresponding to each available cellular communication device recorded in the list of the available cellular communication device” as taught by CN’636, in the system of Chan, so that it would provide transmission scheme to solve low stability of user’s access to the network and low availability of the network, conditions result in reducing the user experience (CN’636, page 3, line 27-33).
Regarding claim 6, Chan in view of CN’636 disclose the network access device according to claim 1.
CN’636 further discloses there are a plurality of available cellular communication devices (page 6, page 8, sub-communication link through plurality of mobile communication modules); the processor is further configured to:
acquire a wireless network standard supported by each available cellular communication device in the plurality of available cellular communication devices and operator information supported by a subscriber identity card communicatively connected with each available cellular communication device, as a first acquisition result (page 5, page 6, SIM cards of different communication providers inserted into plurality of mobile modules; parameters of sub communication link);
acquire cell information of an available cell obtained through scanning by each available cellular communication device in the plurality of available cellular communication devices, as a second acquisition result (page 5, page 6, SIM cards of different communication providers inserted into plurality of mobile modules; parameters of sub communication link);
determine, according to the first acquisition result and the second acquisition result, cell access indication information of each available cellular communication device in the plurality of available cellular communication devices (page 6, page 8, sub-communication link through plurality of mobile communication modules); and
send the cell access indication information of each available cellular communication device in the plurality of the available cellular communication devices to the corresponding available cellular communication device, so that each available cellular communication device accesses the corresponding cell according to the received cell access indication information (page 6, page 8, applying for a bandwidth resource for video transmission to a scheduling center of the server, so as to establish an aggregation link with aggregation server).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “there are a plurality of available cellular communication devices; the processor is further configured to: acquire a wireless network standard supported by each available cellular communication device in the plurality of available cellular communication devices and operator information supported by a subscriber identity card communicatively connected with each available cellular communication device, as a first acquisition result; acquire cell information of an available cell obtained through scanning by each available cellular communication device in the plurality of available cellular communication devices, as a second acquisition result; determine, according to the first acquisition result and the second acquisition result, cell access indication information of each available cellular communication device in the plurality of available cellular communication devices; and send the cell access indication information of each available cellular communication device in the plurality of the available cellular communication devices to the corresponding available cellular communication device, so that each available cellular communication device accesses the corresponding cell according to the received cell access indication information” as taught by CN’636, in the system of Chan, so that it would provide transmission scheme to solve low stability of user’s access to the network and low availability of the network, conditions result in reducing the user experience (CN’636, page 3, line 27-33).
Regarding claim 7, Chan in view of CN’636 disclose the network access device according to claim 1.
CN’636 further discloses the cell access indication information comprises cell information of a target cell; wherein the cell information of the target cell is used to instruct the corresponding available cellular communication device to access the target cell (page 5-6, page 8, communication parameters including parameters such as bandwidth, transmission rate, signal quality and signal strength and applying for a bandwidth resource for video transmission to a scheduling center of the server).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “the cell access indication information comprises cell information of a target cell; wherein the cell information of the target cell is used to instruct the corresponding available cellular communication device to access the target cell” as taught by CN’636, in the system of Chan, so that it would provide transmission scheme to solve low stability of user’s access to the network and low availability of the network, conditions result in reducing the user experience (CN’636, page 3, line 27-33).
Regarding claim 8, Chan discloses the communication interface comprises a universal serial bus interface, a lightning interface or a firewire interface (paragraph [0032], network interface implemented by standalone or other electronic components).
Regarding claim 9, Chan discloses a wired wide area network interface; wherein it is detected whether the wired wide area network interface is connected with a wired network (paragraphs [0033], [0064], network interface may connect to a wired or wireless access network); the processor is specifically configured to:
establish, based on the available cellular communication device and the wired network, an aggregation link for data transmission between the network access device and the target server when it is detected that the wired wide area network interface is connected with a wired network (paragraphs [0033], [0064], connections of the more than one SIM cards can be aggregated together to form an aggregated connection with increased bandwidth; the aggregated connection is perceived as one end-to-end connection by sessions or applications that are using it).
Regarding claim 10, Chan discloses the network access device according to claim1 and a cellular communication device for detachably connecting to the communication interface (paragraphs [0004], [0064], when first/second SIM card is inserted in the device processing unit initializes an entry corresponding to identity of the SIMs).
Regarding claim 11, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 12, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 13, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 5.
Regarding claim 14, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 2.
Regarding claim 15, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 3.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 4.
Regarding claim 17, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 2.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 3.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 4.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 1.
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SITHU KO whose telephone number is 571-272-8647. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Friday 8:30am-5:00pmEST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edan Orgad can be reached on 571-272-7884. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SITHU KO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414