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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 11-12, filed 04/14/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 18, 23 and 27 under 35 U.S.C. §102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Huang et al. (U.S. PG Publication No. 2018/0027494).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 18-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Huang et al. (“Huang”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2018/0027494).
In regards to claim 1, Huang teaches a wireless communication device for neighbor awareness networking (NAN) communications (See Abstract, ¶0002, 0007, 0036 and 0064), comprising:
a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors, the processing system configured to cause the wireless communication device to:
transmit, to a NAN peer device over a NAN data path (NDP), an indication that the wireless communication device is to enter a power save mode (See at least Abstract, ¶0151-0152, 0155, 0161, 0272-0276 and 0285-0291 in view of FIG. 3 and 5); and
enter into the power save mode for a first amount of time (See at least Abstract, ¶0151-0152, 0155, 0161, 0272-0276 and 0285-0291 in view of FIG. 3 and 5).
In regards to claim 2, Huang teaches the indication includes a media access control (MAC) packet with a power management (PM) bit set to 1 or a more data (MD) bit set to 0 (See ¶0170-0172 and 0179-0181).
In regards to claim 3, Huang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the processing system is configured to cause the wireless communication device to cause the wireless communication device to remain in an active mode during a dwell time after outputting the indication (See ¶0290).
In regards to claim 4, Huang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 3, wherein the processing system is configured to cause the wireless communication device to cause the wireless communication device to remain idle during the dwell time (See ¶0139, 0145-0148 wherein variations are taught, 0261, 0179 and 0307), wherein:
the wireless communication device does not obtain traffic intended for the wireless communication device (See ¶0139, 0145-0148 wherein variations are taught, 0261, 0179 and 0307); and
the wireless communication device enters the power save mode after the dwell time (See ¶0139, 0145-0148 wherein variations are taught, 0261, 0179 and 0307).
In regards to claim 5, Huang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the processing system is configured to cause the wireless communication device to: receive one or more of:
data intended for the wireless communication device during the dwell time (See ¶0261, 0179 and 0307); or
an indication, from the NAN peer device over the NDP, that the wireless communication device is not to enter the power save mode, wherein the indication from the NAN peer device includes a media access control (MAC) packet with a more data (MD) bit set to 1 (See ¶0170-0172 and 0179-0181); and
prevent the wireless communication device from entering the power save mode (See ¶0307 as an example).
In regards to claim 6, Huang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 3, wherein the processing system is configured to cause the wireless communication device to:
obtain, from the NAN peer device over the NDP, an indication that the wireless communication device is to enter the power save mode, wherein the indication that the wireless communication device is to enter the power save mode includes a media access control (MAC) packet with a more data (MD) bit set to 0 and the MAC packet from the NAN peer device (See ¶0170-0172 and 0179-0181) includes a quality of service (QoS) null data packet (See ¶0172, 0176, 0180 and 0187); and
cause the wireless communication device to enter the power save mode in response to obtaining the indication that the wireless communication device is to enter the power save mode (See ¶0308 and 0313 as examples).
In regards to claim 7, Huang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 6, wherein the processing system is configured to cause the wireless communication device to: end the dwell time in response to obtaining the indication that the wireless communication device is to enter the power save mode (See ¶0305-0313 wherein variations are taught).
In regards to claim 8, Huang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 3, wherein the processing system is configured to cause the wireless communication device to: negotiate the dwell time with the NAN peer device during setup of the NDP (See ¶0157, 0261, 0291 and 0292).
In regards to claim 11, Huang teaches wherein: the first amount of time is less than or equal to a maximum power save mode time associated with the NDP (See, for example, ¶0305-0313 wherein various examples are shown, some of which would enter a power save mode that is interpreted to of course be less than the maximum allowed of time).
In regards to claim 13, Huang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein:
the NDP includes one or more common resource blocks (CRBs) during which the wireless communication device and the NAN peer device are to be in an active mode for exchanging NAN frames between each other (See Abstract, 0133-0139, 0152-0155 and 0161-0166); and
the one or more CRBs are associated with a negotiated schedule of time slots during which both the wireless communication device and the NAN peer device are available (See Abstract, 0133-0139, 0152-0155 and 0161-0166).
In regards to claim 14, Huang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 13, wherein the one or more CRBs include one or more blocks of time (See Abstract, 0133-0139, 0152-0155 and 0161-0166), and wherein a transmission opportunity period between the wireless communication device and the NAN peer device includes the one or more blocks of time (See Abstract, 0133-0139, 0152-0155 and 0161-0166).
In regards to claim 16, Ran teaches the wireless communication device of claim 14, wherein:
the one or more blocks of time are contiguous (See ¶0136-0137, 0143, 0160-0161 and 0257); or
the one or more blocks of time are non-contiguous, wherein the wireless communication device enters the power save mode during non-transmission blocks of time, the non-transmission blocks of time being between the one or more blocks of time during which both the wireless communication device and the NAN peer device are available, and wherein the wireless communication device and the NAN peer device negotiate at what time the wireless communication device is to enter the power save mode during the non-transmission blocks of time in accordance with the one or more blocks of time being non-contiguous.
In regards to claim 18, the claim is rejected under the same basis as claim 1 by Huang.
In regards to claims 19-22, the claims are rejected on the same basis as claims 2, 3, 5 and 6, respectively, by Huang.
In regards to claim 23, the claim is rejected under the same basis as claim 1 by Huang.
In regards to claims 24-26, the claims are rejected under the same basis as claims 2, 5 and 6, respectively, by Huang.
In regards to claim 27, the claim is rejected under the same basis as claim 1 by Huang.
In regards to claims 28-30, the claims are rejected under the same basis as claims 2, 5 and 6 by Huang.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (“Huang”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2018/0027494) in view of Huang et al. (“Huang2”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2017/0245296).
In regards to claim 9, Huang fails to teach the wireless communication device of claim 3, wherein the processing system is configured to cause the wireless communication device to:
the processing system is configured to: measure a congestion on a portion of a wireless medium including the NDP; and adjust the dwell time in accordance with the congestion; and the interface is configured to: indicate the adjustment to the dwell time to the NAN peer device.
In a similar endeavor Huang2 teaches measure a congestion on a portion of a wireless medium including the NDP (See ¶0091 in view of 0074 wherein the scheduling between two NAN2 devices may be updated/changed because of congestion); and
adjust the dwell time in accordance with the congestion (See ¶0091 in view of 0074 wherein the scheduling between two NAN2 devices may be updated/changed because of congestion, thus a dwell time is updated/changed according to congestion); and
the interface is configured to:
indicate the adjustment to the dwell time to the NAN peer device (See ¶0092 wherein the change in the schedule may be provided through the use of bits in a schedule update control field).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Huang2 into Huang because it allows for providing updates in NAN scheduling via updates to the scheduling of time blocks as described in at least the Abstract.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (“Huang”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2018/0027494) in view of Rantala et al. (“Ran”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2020/0344684).
In regards to claim 15, Huang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 14, wherein the processing system is configured to cause the wireless communication device to perform an operation between the one or more blocks of time (See Abstract, 0133-0139, 0152-0157 and 0161-0166).
Huang, however, fails to explicitly teach wherein the operation includes entering the power save mode between the one or more blocks of time.
In a similar endeavor Ran teaches wherein the operation includes entering the power save mode between the one or more blocks of time (See ¶0036 wherein the power save mode may then be entered after cancellation of a CRB as seen in ¶0035, also 0046-0047 wherein one device desires to enter sleep mode when it has no further data to transmit).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Ran into Huang because it allows for a reduction in power consumption through the use of a power save mode as described in at least ¶0003.
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (“Huang”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2018/0027494) in view of Patil et al. (“Patil”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2017/0311341).
In regards to claim 17, Huang fails to teach the wireless communication device of claim 14, wherein each block of time of the one or more blocks of time is negotiated to be in a range of 1 to 16 time units (TUs).
In a similar endeavor Patil teaches wherein each block of time of the one or more blocks of time is negotiated to be in a range of 1 to 16 time units (TUs) (See ¶0119-0121 and FIG. 6 in view of 0074-0075 wherein an example range may be 5 or 10 milliseconds [5 or 10 time units] with regards to changes, this is based on scheduled time periods [or schedule epochs] by which allowed time is given).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Patil into Huang because it allows for organization of changes as described in at least 0119-0121, otherwise control and transmission of data may be erratic and chaotic if control of ownership in transmission was consistently being vied for without any scheduling.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10 and 12 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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EDEMIO NAVAS JR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2483
/EDEMIO NAVAS JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483
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